


Raphael X (female) Reader Scenarios

by Self_Indulgent_TMNT



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Basically my fantasies, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Fluff, Reader-Insert, Some Swearing, really self-indulgent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2018-08-07 12:10:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 100
Words: 95,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7714438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Self_Indulgent_TMNT/pseuds/Self_Indulgent_TMNT
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Welcome to the world of fluff, funny, heartaches and deep conversations. Your life with our favourite hotheaded ninja turtle, presented in a series of scenarios, scenes etc. I wrote this for the TMNT(2012) series so it'll be specific to that but I see no reason why you can't picture it as whatever version you want.</p><p>I'm writing with everything as it is at the point I started writing this, which would be about mid-way through season 4. As such, I will probably not be aknowledging any new developments in the show because this is simpler.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction and Background Info

A/N  
Hi! So this is gonna be a Raphael X Reader scenario book set in the 2012 TMNT universe but I haven’t specified the time it takes place, in my head it’s when the turtles are somewhere between 18 and 20 just because of how old I’ve made Y/N. I will be referring to events which have happened in the show but giving no timeframe for how long ago they occurred. I’ve never written reader insert before so I’m a little unsure of what I’m doing but I’d read a lot of them recently so I thought I may as well have a go.  
Throughout this book I’ll be using the usual Y/N = your first name, L/N = last name E/C = eye colour etc. but I know that can sometimes be a bit clunky so I’ll do my best to use nicknames and other adjectives to limit the need for that type of thing.  
In this chapter I just want to set out the character of Y/N so that you know a little about your background within the story, I’ll try to keep things vague though so that you can still adapt it to fit you.  
In this fic Y/N is an orphan who lost her parents when she was 7 years old, that’s just so that I don’t have the awkwardness of writing your family and putting you into a home life that you don’t have which I know I personally sometimes find a bit weird or difficult to imagine, we can just focus on you and the show’s characters.  
So here we go, a little about Y/N.  
Y/N L/N was orphaned age 7 and grew up in an orphanage from that age onwards, until moving out to live in her own small flat aged 18. Now aged 19, she works a boring job in a general store. She doesn’t revel in fighting but definitely has a bit of a temper to her, although she can generally keep that under control. She was one of the few people who remained unmutated during the Kraang invasion of New York, an experience which taught her survival and gave her a hardened outer shell, but other than that there is not much especially unusual about her.

So now that I have that out of the way we can get into the scenarios!


	2. How You Meet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unfortunate evening turns into a very fortunate encounter.

The day started as any other. You got up, ate breakfast, went to work. The day then continued as any other. You worked, had lunch, worked some more, and as the sun began to disappear at around 5 o’clock, marking the rapid onset of winter, you collected your coat and bag and set off for home, tired and ready to spend the evening curled up safe and warm in front of your TV. It was at this point that the day took a turn for the irregular.  
The prematurely dark streets made walking the short distance to your home riskier than usual, especially considering your neighbourhood had recently become a stomping ground for the Purple Dragons and an ever increasing number of Foot Clan. You walked quickly, pulling your coat closer round you and holding your bag tightly. You’d just about made it home when you rounded a corner and walked straight into a group of bored Purple Dragons out to cause trouble.  
The scrawny youths, armed with switch blades, eyed you up with the kind of look a cat might have when it plays with a mouse. “Well, well, look what we have here. And just as I was getting bored, too” one of them, apparently the leader, says. “What d’you think, boys? How about a little fun?”  
The group fanned out around you, forcing you down a nearby alley, switch blades glinting menacingly in the light of a street lamp until you had backed far enough down the alley that the light no longer reached you and the 5 men were now no more than dark silhouettes.  
“We’ll start with that bag, sweetheart” the man said, giving your shoulder a shove when you seemed reluctant to relinquish your hold on your handbag. You dipped your hand into your bag and brought out your pepper spray, holding it up in a manner you hoped was threatening.  
“S-stay back” you warned, your fear taking the threat out of your voice so that the men just laughed.  
“Come on, sweetheart” the leader began, but his words were cut off by a scream as you sprayed him right in the eyes. That spurred the others into action. One of them launched forward and punched you hard in the gut while another took advantage of you being doubled over to grab your bag. You recovered your breath just in time to dodge a poorly times thrust at you with a knife and kicked out, your sturdy boot connecting firmly with the assailant’s groin. You followed your kick up with a hand which reached out and grabbed the man’s shirt, slamming him into the wall as hard as you could.  
Despite your brave attempts, you were still outnumbered and there was nothing you could do to avoid the kick the now red-eyed leader sent hard into your side, knocking you to the ground. You curled up to protect yourself from the blows which were sure to follow, but before the Dragons could fully set to their work a new voice cut across the alley.  
“Hey morons! Leave her alone!” The voice called and you opened your eyes just enough to see what appeared to be a guy armed with hockey sticks stood in the alley.  
“And what if we don’t wanna?” the leader called out.  
“Then we get to have some fun of our own” the masked hockey guy said. There was a pause just long enough for his words to sink in before something, or rather someone, dropped down onto the Dragon closest to you with a growl, incapacitating the gang member with a couple of punches. Hockey guy seemed to take this as his cue and launched straight into the group.  
The fight can’t have lasted more than a minute and it was entirely one sided. You scrambled further into the corner you were in while hockey guy and his friend finished off your attackers. There was something strange about the friend in question. He didn’t seem to be built quite like a normal human and in the dim light of the alley you could have sworn you saw flashes of green skin, and… was that a shell on his back?  
With the Dragons all unconscious or scared off, hockey guy walked over to you and offered you a hand up while his friend collected your bag.  
“Thanks” you said with a smile.  
“Don’t mention it. Are you alright?”  
“Yeah I think I’m fine, thanks to you. What can I call my rescuers?”  
“I’m Casey” Casey said “and this is my man, Raphael” he said, gesturing to his friend who handed you your bag. Now that you could see up close, Raphael was definitely green.  
“Thanks” you said, taking your bag. “I don’t mean to be rude, but are you…?”  
“A freak? Yeah” Raphael, who appeared to be some kind of turtle mutant, said.  
“Well I was going to say not human, I wouldn’t say freak” you said with a smile. Raphael seemed taken aback.  
“Wait, you ain’t scared of me?” he asked, wide-eyed. You gave him a grim smile.  
“I lived through the Kraang invasion of New York, it takes more than a giant turtle to shock me. Besides, you helped me, that’s gotta make you one of the good guys, right?”  
“Yeah, well, um” Raphael said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, clearly not used to such acceptance of his appearance.  
“You need us to see you home?” Casey asked.  
“Weill I only live round the corner” You said “but I guess someone watching my back would be kind of nice”, you were still kind of shaken up by your recent Purple Dragon encounter and a little nervous of heading off alone.  
“We’ll keep an eye on you from the shadows” Raphael said “no one else is gonna bother you”  
You smiled your thanks and watched as they leapt up a nearby fire escape. The giant turtle stopped a few meters off the ground.  
“You got a name, princess?” he asked with a hint of a smirk.  
“Y/N” you told him “Y/N L/N”  
“Y/N” Raph said, trying the name out in his mouth “that’s a good name”  
You let out a short laugh before replying “Thanks, although I think Raphael might be better”  
His smirk widened, “Call me Raph” he said before disappearing up the fire escape and out of sight.


	3. When You Meet Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raph and his brothers show up on your fire escape in need of somewhere to lay low for a bit.

It had been almost a week since your encounter with Raphael and Casey and your life had returned to its usual routine almost without batting an eyelid. You had thought a little on the existence of the mysterious mutant turtle but experience had taught you not to dwell on it. New York City was full of mutants, people mostly just pretended it wasn’t so that they could sleep at night.  
You had simply assumed that you would never see either Raphael or Casey again, they were clearly vigilantes trying to clean up the streets from the shadows and you certainly didn’t want to need their help again. And so when there was a knock on your window just as you were settling down for an evening of TV you were more than a little surprised to find the red-clad turtle out on your fire escape, accompanied by another 2 similar turtles, one with an orange mask and one with a blue one, these 2 were carrying a 3rd turtle who wore purple and appeared to be unconscious.  
“Raphael! What are you doing here?” you asked, opening the window.  
“Hi, Y/N. Look, I know this might seem a bit forward, but my brothers and I need somewhere to hide for a bit until things calm down outside and Donnie here wakes up, and, well, we were nearby and I thought…” he trailed off but you got his meaning.  
“I guess I do owe you one, come in” you said, opening the window wider and watching as your small living room quickly filled with giant mutant turtles. Accepting the existence of 1 giant turtle was one thing, but being presented with 4, all very much armed and in your living room was another thing entirely and you had to admit you were a little intimidated. You turned your attention to the least intimidating turtle, the unconscious one laid on your sofa.  
“Is he ok?” you asked.  
“He took a pretty hard knock to the head. He’ll be alright, he’s just out cold” the blue turtle said.  
“I think I have a couple of ice packs in the freezer, maybe they’ll help” you suggested and the blue turtle nodded. You rushed off and came back a moment later with an ice pack which the turtle accepted with a smile and placed to his brother’s head.  
“Thanks. I’m Leo by the way, and this is my little brother, Mikey, oh and this is Donnie” he said, pointing first to the orange turtle who shot you and cheery grin and wave, and then the unconscious one.  
“I’m Y/N” you said, offering him your hand which he shook.  
“Sorry about this again” Raphael said “but the Foot Clan are out in force tonight and the cops were right around the corner, we couldn’t get home without being spotted and your place was close, so I thought…”  
“It’s alright, Raph, I get it. And like I said, I owe you one”  
At this moment, Donnie started to wake up and you stood back, allowing his brothers to fuss over him, or in Raph’s case express annoyance. The turtles were soon leaving through the same window through which they’d entered. Raph was the last to leave and he stopped on the fire escape, handing you a small scrap of paper with what appeared to be a phone number on it. “I don’t think anyone saw us come here, but on the off chance they did and they cause you trouble, or if those Purple Dragons fancy round 2, here’s my number” and with that he was off, disappearing across the rooftops with his brothers.


	4. You Get His Help

3 days after your impromptu visit from the turtle brothers you were walking home from working a late shift at work when you felt the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, a clear sign that something around here wasn’t right. But a quick glance around showed no signs of anyone else so you tried to shrug it off, walking a little faster anyway.  
As you approached your apartment building your suspicions were confirmed, you made out the figures of a fairly large group of Purple Dragons in the street and you recognised at least 3 of them as being part of the group which had cornered you before. You dove behind a nearby dumpster before they could see you, but you definitely didn’t fancy your chances of making it home without some sort of trouble. You spent a minute behind the dumpster, trying to work out a feasible plan to get by them, when you remembered Raphael. Pulling out your phone you selected his number and rang.  
“Come on, come on, pick up” you muttered.  
“Hello?”  
“Raph! It’s me, Y/N”  
“Oh hey, do you need something?”  
“Just wondering if you wanna kick some Purple Dragon butt, ‘cause there’s a bunch of them outside my apartment building looking for trouble and I can’t get home”  
“Alright, sit tight. We’ll be there in 10. Stay out of sight and Do. Not. Try to take them by yourself”  
“Like that’s what I was gonna do” you muttered as Raph hung up.  
It turns out Raph’s promise of 10 minutes was actually a gross overestimation, in less than 5 you could make out the silhouettes of 4 figures on a rooftop. By the time 10 minutes had passed since your phone call, all of the Purple Dragons had been deposited in a pile of unconscious and dazed bodies.  
“We have got to stop meeting like this” Raph said as you emerged from your hiding spot.  
“Well how else am I going to meet giant mutant turtles?” you asked with a smile. “Thanks”  
Raph shrugged your thanks off. “I should be thanking you, I was getting bored and kicking a few butts always helps me unwind”  
“Plus if he gets to beat up some bad guys he’s less likely to beat us up” Mikey said before ducking to avoid Raph’s fist.  
“You better be careful round these streets, they’re not as safe as they used to be” Leo said.  
“I noticed” you replied, dryly, casting an eye at the heap of Purple Dragons. “I should probably get home before that lot wakes up. Thanks again, guys”  
“Our pleasure. Stay safe” Leo said, and with that the group disappeared in their signature way, blending into the shadows and up onto the roof of the nearest building.


	5. He Checks Up On You

If you’d expected to see the turtles again you would have thought it wouldn’t be for a while. You were being careful, taking the bus home rather than walking and doing your best to stay away from anywhere the Purple Dragons were likely to be hiding, or, even worse, the Foot Clan. And so, when there was a knock on your window the day after your previous encounter with the mutants, you were instantly suspicious.  
Fortunately, your suspicions were immediately dismissed when you saw it was just Raph at your window. You opened it with a raised eyebrow.  
“Got another injured brother or did you think I needed your help again?” you asked jokingly.  
“We were just passing an’ I thought I’d check in on you, make sure the bad guys had left you alone”  
“I’m fine, thanks. Starting to think you’re some kind of guardian angel sent to watch over me, though”  
Raph laughed. “I’m not an angel. I just don’t wanna see one of the few people in this city who won’t scream when they see me get beaten up” he said before looking over his shoulder. “Look, I gotta go, my brothers are waiting. I’ll see you soon?”  
“I’m sure you will” you said with a grin, shutting the window as he leapt away.


	6. You Hang Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cause when you get bored what else you gonna do but hang out with a giant ninja turtle?

It was your day off work and you were bored out of your mind. You’d stayed in bed most of the morning, caught up on all the TV you were behind on and were now stuck for anything to do. You half-heartedly picked up your phone in the hope that maybe someone had texted you. No such luck. You’d just have to text someone then. Scrolling down your list of contacts, one name jumped out at you, Raph.  
“Why the hell not, it’s not like he’s gonna be busy, he’s a giant turtle” you muttered, tapping out a quick ‘Hey, you busy?’ before dropping your phone down next to you. Well that had killed at least 30 seconds.  
2 minutes later your phone buzzed and you practically pounced on it.  
‘Nah, not up to much. Why? Something wrong?’  
‘Nothing wrong, just hella bored. Don’t suppose you wanna hang out?’  
The pause after that text was agonising but eventually your phone buzzed again. ‘Yeah, sure! What did you have in mind?’  
‘Dunno really, hadn’t thought that far ahead. Meet on my roof in 20 mins? We can make it up from there’  
‘Sure. See you soon’ came the reply. The excitement you felt at having something to do was swiftly replaced with the realisation that you had absolutely no idea what on earth you were going to do. What can you even do with a giant mutant turtle anyway? All the usual diversions like going to the cinema or out for food were off limits due to the distinctly non-human nature of your companion. You were pretty much limited to rooftops and your apartment, and since you were going stir crazy in your apartment you didn’t fancy that as an option. In the end you just sighed, giving in and wandering into your room to fix your hair and find some more presentable clothes than the loose-fitting lounging clothes you had been wearing, settling on jeans and a t-shirt and your leather jacket which you hoped made you look cool. Raiding the kitchen cupboards you located a multipack of crisps and the large bottle of lemonade you always kept on hand for emergencies and wandered up to the roof.  
You hadn’t been waiting very long when a voice behind you said “Hey” and you span around to find Raph leaning casually against a wall. “Damn you’re sneaky! How did you do that?” you asked, startled by the fact that you hadn’t heard him approach.  
“Y’know, other people would’ve said hello” Raph said with a smirk.  
“Yeah well other people would have made sure the person they were meeting knew they were coming rather than sneaking up behind them”  
“If that’s true then other people are no fun” Raph said, walking over to sit on the low wall beside you. “So, what do you wanna do?”  
“Well my plan had got about as far as this bottle of lemonade and these crisps, at which point I came up with a blank”  
Raph smiled at that. “Well that sounds like a good starting point to me, this is already better than most hangouts I’ve had” he said as you opened the lemonade and passed him a packet of crisps.  
“Have you had many?”  
“No, as a matter of fact. It seems most people don’t consider a giant mutant ninja turtle to be prime socialising material”  
“Yeah well we’ve already established that other people are no fun” you replied, sipping on the lemonade. Raph looked at you curiously.  
“Still if I were in your position I would probably be doing my best to avoid mutants, I wouldn’t invite one to my rooftop”  
“Why not? You ever hear of the phrase don’t judge a book by its cover? Besides, you helped me, in my book that warrants a little benefit of the doubt”  
Raph didn’t reply, he seemed to be processing what you’d said. You decided it was time to take the conversation away from his appearance and onto a subject which was probably a little less sensitive. Turning your attention to the gleaming weapons at his sides you reached out a hand and tentatively pulled the one closest to you out from his belt. Raph let you, but his eyes followed your every move and you had no doubt that if you did something he didn’t like the weapon would be out of your hand and in his in an instant.  
“So what are these, anyway?” You asked, admiring the metal and the way the slowly dimming daylight glinted off it.  
“They’re sai” he said, a look of pride showing on his face.  
“And sai are?”  
“They’re ninja weapons. Here’ I’ll show you”  
Raph held out his hand for the one you held, which you handed over, while he drew the other. Once he had the obviously familiar weapons in his hands Raph instantly started spinning them. The motion looked so effortless when he did it, but you imagined that if you tried it then the weapons would probably go flying and have someone’s eye out.  
After the spinning, a motion which only lasted a few seconds but already had you impressed, Raph decided to really show you what he could do with a display of thrusts, throws and backflips.  
“Woah, that was awesome!” you said when he finally came to a stop. Raph shrugged, modestly.  
“Thanks, that wasn’t much really”  
“Not much? If that wasn’t much then I’d hate to be on the wrong side of you when you’re really trying. Where’d you learn that, anyway?”  
“My father taught me”  
“Is he a… a turtle too?”  
“Nah, he’s a rat”  
“Right. So the turtle’s dad is a rat. Sure, why not”  
“Well he used to be a human actually, he got mutated”  
“And you?”  
“My brothers and I used to be normal turtles. We were his pets”  
“And now you’re his sons. And he taught you ninjitsu”  
“Well what were you expecting? I’m a giant ninja turtle, I was hardly gonna have a normal background”  
You couldn’t come up with an answer to that. The mutant rat ninja thing certainly seemed to fit him better than a more normal family life.  
“What about you?” Raph asked “You got a family?”  
“Nah, my parents have been dead a while now. I grew up in an orphanage, moved out last year. It’s just little old me now”  
“What so when you get old enough you just get kicked out?”  
“Well it’s not quite that harsh, they make sure you’ve got a job and a place to live and stuff and I had the money I inherited from my parents, but that’s basically it yeah”  
“Man I don’t get humans. Sometimes you make me glad I gotta stay hidden”  
“It’s alright, we don’t really get you either. In normal life turtles don’t talk”  
“Doesn’t seem to have put you off at all”  
“I’m curious, I guess. It’s not every day I meet a mutant who isn’t actively trying to cause havoc”  
“Met a lot of mutants have you?”  
“Met, no. But I’ve seen plenty. They do tend to get on the news when they destroy a whole block. And after the Kraang invaded and mutated or killed everything they could find, anything not human kind of ended up with a bad reputation. You would’ve thought I’d seen enough mutants for a lifetime, wouldn’t you”  
“How did you make it through the invasion without being mutated, anyway?” Raph asked. You shrugged, not really comfortable talking about it.  
“I just did, I guess. I hid and scavenged and hid some more and took each day as it came until one day the Kraang just disappeared. God only knows why or where”  
“We sent them back where they came from” Raph muttered, so quiet you could barely hear.  
“You mean, it was you?”  
“Yeah, me an’ the others”  
You suddenly found yourself looking at Raphael in a completely different light. Almost without hesitation you threw your arms around him, causing him to stiffen in surprise. “Thank you” you said simply, before pulling away again. Raph seemed stunned and he was trying, and failing, to control a bright red blush on his cheeks.  
“Don’t mention it, it’s just what we do”  
“Well for the record, I’m grateful”  
At that moment Raph’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out, revealing a text from one of his brothers.  
“It’s Leo, says I need to get back to the lair. Probably some kind of crisis, it usually is” Raph said with a smirk. You smiled back.  
“Does that mean our little chat is over then?”  
“Afraid so”  
Raph hopped up onto the wall and prepared to leap away.  
“Will I see you again?” you asked.  
“Don’t see why not. You still have my number. Maybe you’ll get bored again” he replied with the smirk which seemed to be his go-to expression.  
“Maybe I will” You replied, then Raph was gone.


	7. You Think About Him

It was the day after you’d hung out with Raph and you’d found yourself distracted at work all day, unable to get him off your mind. You weren’t sure what it was that had you so distracted, you just found yourself thinking about him. And it wasn’t like you were just thinking about the fact you’d met a mutant, he hadn’t been on your mind this much before yesterday. No, this was something different.  
The things which were keeping you so preoccupied were not his green skin and his shell; it wasn’t the fact that he was a reptile or simply that he wasn’t human. No, the things which meant that you couldn’t focus were of an entirely different nature. To start with it had just been the way he’d handled his weapons, the obvious and yet effortless level of mastery he had over his sai, and of course as an extension the backflips and stealth he had shown which clearly came as part of the ninja package. You were impressed, no shame in acknowledging it. Who wouldn’t be? It was when your thoughts moved away from last night’s display and towards smaller details that you actually started to question your preoccupation with the turtle. Things like his smirk; the way he raised his eyebrow (or rather where an eyebrow would be if he had hair); the sarcastic way he talked; the way he’d been leaning against that wall. His whole cool manner and effortless charm.  
He had you bewitched. Not that you were attracted to him of course. He was a turtle, you couldn’t be attracted to a turtle. He may be a walking, talking, sai wielding turtle but he was still a turtle, you couldn’t be attracted to a turtle, that was just wrong.  
Right?


	8. He Thinks About You

Raph was distracted, and when Raph was distracted he went to the punching bag so that he could think while doing something mindless. Although, Raph went to the punching bag when he wasn’t distracted too. Raph just liked the punching bag, it was something to hit that didn’t cause people to yell at him. Unless he hit it too hard and broke it, then Donnie yelled at him ‘cause he would be the one who had to fix it.  
Regardless of the many other reasons he attacked that poor, defenceless bag, today it was because he was distracted. Raph couldn’t stop thinking about a certain girl he had met up with last night. It wasn’t often Raph got to hang out with someone new, in fact it was practically never, and talking to Y/N, even if it was only for a brief time before Leo had called him home to help deal with a mutant found wandering the streets, had been a refreshing change.  
She wasn’t afraid of him. That was the thought that went round and round in Raph’s head. In his mind every human who saw him would be afraid, and he wouldn’t blame them. He didn’t like it but he kind of understood. And yet this girl hadn’t even seemed shocked. Even Casey and April had thought they were freaks at first. But Y/N…  
He couldn’t get his head around it, didn’t know what to think about her. Maybe he shouldn’t trust her, he rarely trusted anyone, after all most people he met were out to kill him so why should she be any different? Because she hadn’t sought him out, she hadn’t expected to find him and she hadn’t expected to see him when he showed up at her apartment with the others. She wasn’t involved with the Foot Clan or the Purple Dragons, he didn’t imagine she’d be involved with the Kraang, she was just a normal girl who’d seen enough shit to make almost anything seem normal. He liked that, he liked her. Even though he barely knew her he’d got on with her.  
Plus, she was hot, Raph found that he had to admit that. He hadn’t thought about it when he was with her, but thinking back retrospectively he could easily admit to himself that she was attractive. But what was the point in thinking like that? She would never think of him in that way so allowing himself to be attracted to her would only be bad for him in the long run. No matter what she said he was still a mutant, a freak, and pretty girls aren’t attracted to freaks.


	9. You Hang Out With All The Turtles

It had now been 3 days since you’d hung out with Raph and he wasn’t playing on your mind any less. You decided you had to see him again but you wanted to see his brothers too, partly because you just wanted to get to know them better and partly because you wanted to see if it was just a mutant turtle thing which had you so distracted or if it was a Raph thing. So you hatched a plan. Your plan started with a text to Raph:  
‘Hey. I was just wondering if U + your bros wanna come round to mine 4 pizza or something whenever you’re free. Just to say thanks for the other day with the PDs’  
The next phase of the plan was to wait for a reply. This phase didn’t last long, soon after you pressed send your phone was buzzing with a reply:  
‘Sure, I’ve asked the others and they say that’d be great (although that may just have been the mention of pizza). We’re free whenever’  
‘Great! How does 7 on Tuesday sound?’  
‘Great, we’ll be there’  
That was the planning stage over and done with, now all you had to do was wait the 2 days until Tuesday.

*Fortunately for you, I am the author and so have the power to time skip the story to Tuesday! Yay!*

 

Everything was ready. You’d stocked up on various drinks, both fizzy and not, as well as horrendously unhealthy snacks, you had cash ready to pay for pizza and a stack of DVDs to choose from. Now all you needed was the turtles.  
Glancing at the clock you saw that it was 10 to 7, nearly time. You would never have admitted it to anyone, but you were nervous. You made a show of not being afraid of the turtles but you couldn’t help being a bit intimidated. Plus you’d invited people who were basically strangers into your home, it was only natural to be a bit nervous about that. But you weren’t going to let that get in the way, you were determined to at least try and be friends with them. You couldn’t imagine that they had many friends and you didn’t really have many either, plus you were hella curious about them and they seemed like good people. Why not be friends with them?  
In the next 10 minutes you managed to work yourself up into a nervous frenzy, convinced that everything that could go wrong would go wrong and that this would be a night you always looked back on with regret. But then there was a knock on your window and on the other side was Raph, Leo, Donnie and Mikey, all with friendly smiles. You took a deep breath and opened the window.  
“Hi!” you said, motioning for them to enter. They replied with a chorus of greetings as they clambered through the window and into your living room. Your fears soon dissipated as they all seemed perfectly relaxed, Mikey was already sitting on the sofa and tucking into the bowl of crisps on the table in from of him, Leo and Donnie seemed to be a little more reluctant to make themselves so at home but once you motioned to the sofa and the pile of cushions you had created next to it (no way was your little sofa gonna be big enough for all of them!) they too seemed perfectly relaxed. Raph was leaning against the wall, it seemed he was always doing that, and looking at you with a smile.  
“Thanks for inviting us” he said and the others nodded, clearly as Raph was the one who’d spent most time with you he was expected to take the lead in the conversation.  
“No problem” you replied “I just wanted to say thanks for helping me the other day, and I couldn’t think of a better way to say that than with pizza”  
“Damn right, you can say anything with Pizza” Mikey said with a massive grin and the others nodded. His stomach let out a well-timed grumble and you laughed.  
“Is that a sign that I should order it then?” you asked. They seemed reluctant to reply, obviously not wanting to be rude and insist on food, but you just laughed and chucked a notepad and pen at the nearest – Leo – and told them to write down what they wanted. When the list came back to you, you couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.  
“I dunno if they do jellybean and jalapeño pizza, and I’m pretty damn sure they don’t have peanut butter”, Mikey’s face visibly fell and you guessed he was the one with the weird order “It’s alright, I’ve got jellybeans and a jar of peanut butter, Mikey, you can add to a regular pizza”  
With that, the orange-clad turtle’s face lit up again. You scanned the rest of the list.  
“Alright, everything else looks pretty doable, I’ll go order. Pick a film or something to watch, right”  
You walked through to your kitchen where you’d left your phone. Once you’d left the room you could hear the names of films being yelled and violently debated. It seems that the previously polite turtles had finally given in and were showing their true colours when you weren’t in the room. You came back a few minutes later, jellybeans and peanut butter in hand, to find all the DVDs scattered and a decision no closer to being reached. Leo looked up when you entered the room.  
“You like Space Heroes?!” he asked excitedly, waving to the boxset which was sat in the corner of the room. You blushed.  
“What? Oh that, yeah I guess it’s alright. It’s not like I have all the comics and DVDs or anything” you mumbled and Leo grinned.  
“Course not” he said “It’s not like it’s the best show ever or anything”  
“No, course not” you replied. You were lying, it was literally the best thing you’d ever seen.  
“I don’t suppose you guys have picked a film then?” you asked eyeing the scattered boxes. This sparked off the debate again. Eventually Mikey turned to Raph, who had been staying out of the argument.  
“Raph, what do you wanna watch?”  
“Don’t ask him, Mikey, he’ll just wanna watch some dumb action film or something” Donnie said, clutching the plot-fueled mystery he’d decided he wanted to watch like it was the Holy Grail.  
Raph glanced over to you. “I dunno, whatever Y/N wants to watch is fine with me. It’s just a movie”  
The others all blinked, dumbstruck.  
“Raph, is that the first time you haven’t had an opinion?” Leo asked.  
“I have an opinion, I just told you it, whatever she wants to watch” The others continued to blink at him in silence.  
“Alright then, Y/N, you are out host after all. What do you wanna watch?” Leo finally said.  
You laid all the movies out in front of you, closed your eyes and pointed to one. Truth be told, you didn’t care what you watched, but when you opened your eyes and no one was frowning you judged that you’d made a good choice (it also just happened to be one of your favourite films too).  
You slid the DVD into the player and Donnie, Leo and Mikey all squished onto the sofa, leaving you and Raph to the massive cushion pile. You barely knew these guys but for some reason you just felt comfortable with them. The way they bickered and teased each other pretty much constantly made you laugh but also made you feel accepted, like they felt comfortable enough around this random girl they hardly knew to be themselves. Maybe it was a lifetime spent in hiding that meant that they were just used to being themselves wherever they were, you didn’t know, but when the pizzas arrived and Mikey’s had been altered to suit his questionable tastes you settled down into your cushions, throwing Raph an occasional subtle glance to see if your plan was making your preoccupation with him any clearer, and you no longer felt any of those worries you’d felt before.

You had no idea of how Leo and Donnie had been suspicious of your invite, or how Mikey had to try and convince them to give you the benefit of the doubt. You especially had no idea of the words Raph had said to convince them that you were good, that he trusted you. They had of course been unsure when they’d been invited round to some random girl’s flat for pizza, but Raph’s declaration of trust had convinced them. They were willing to trust their brother’s judgement, and once they’d arrived they were willing to trust this innocent girl who clearly just meant well.

Throughout the film you chatted casually, noticing how different the brothers were. It had already been obvious that Mikey was the hyperactive, childish, innocent one and a few hours in his company only confirmed that for you. Raph was sarcastic and played cool pretty much constantly, it also became clear after the 4th time he threatened to ‘pound’ one of his brothers that he had a bit of a temper too, but you weren’t too bothered by that. It didn’t take long to establish Donnie as the genius of the room, even though he wasn’t trying to show off he was clearly incredibly intelligent. That left Leo who, whether by design or coincidence, was most definitely the leader, attempting to be responsible and keep his brothers under some kind of control.  
You certainly felt like you were getting on well with the turtles, but it wasn’t any clearer whether or not your thoughts would now be full of all 4 of them or if a certain red turtle sitting just to your right would still dominate your mind. If he hadn’t wanted to hold your attention then he was certainly going the exactly wrong way about it, lying back and leaning up on his elbows in a pose which must surely have been designed to show off his muscles. The fact that he was a reptile aside, you were starting to accept the fact that Raphael was hot. It didn’t mean that you were attracted to him, it just meant that you could recognise that Raph was objectively attractive, and there was nothing wrong with that.

 

If only you’d known what was going through Raph’s mind at the same time as you were having those thoughts. For one, that pose absolutely had been designed to show off his muscles and was totally aimed at you, although it hadn’t really been a conscious decision, he just automatically wanted to impress you. He’s a show off, what can you do.  
But that’s not the important part of what he was thinking, that’s not why I bring it up. The important part is that it struck Raph just how good he felt. He finally had a glimpse into what normal life might look like and he liked it. He felt safe and happy, hanging out with his brothers and this new girl who he felt inexplicably drawn to. It wasn’t often he felt safe and let himself lower his guard anywhere other than the lair, but in your small flat he felt comfortable and content. It never occurred to him that maybe it wasn’t the place but the people which had that effect. It never occurred to him that maybe it was you.


	10. Raph Realises Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raph is guided to a realisation about you by his brothers.

There was a positive mood among the turtles when they returned home after their evening at Y/N’s. It was so rare that they got to relax properly like that so of course it had put them in a good mood, even Raph actually seemed calm and happy despite having not beaten anyone up today.  
Actually, he seemed too calm and happy…  
This was not normal and it did not go unnoticed by his brothers. Nothing was said on the matter on the way home, but once they’d entered the lair no more restraint was needed.  
“Y/N seems nice then” Leo said casually.  
“Like I said before, she’s cool” Raph replied vaguely. Leo looked to Mikey, the unofficial signal that it was his turn.  
“She’s awesome” Mikey said enthusiastically. “She bought us pizza and she has the comfiest sofa ever!!!”  
“Mikey there’s more to a person than just food and furniture” Donnie chided him, joining into the conversation which they had all rehearsed in their heads without even communicating with each other.  
“Yeah Mikey, you’ve gotta have more to say for her than that, she’s great” Raph said, slowly being dragged into the conversation. “She’s cool and good fun and she doesn’t scream when she sees us”  
It was now time for Leo to further the conversation. “You haven’t known her that long, though. How well do you actually know her?” he asked. Raph’s face darkened.  
“We’ve been over this, Leo. We’ve hung out a couple of times and I trust her, ok”  
“Are you sure that’s all there is to it?” Donnie asked.  
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Raph asked, rounding on Donnie.  
“You seemed to be kinda friendly with her, that’s all” Donnie said.  
“Yeah, that’s ‘cause she’s my friend”  
“You haven’t know her that long though, it’s not like you to be getting that friendly so fast” Leo said. Raph’s eyes narrowed, he was starting to suspect something was up here.  
“Well like I said, she doesn’t scream when she sees me, I appreciate that”  
“That’s not all you appreciate, I’d say” Donnie muttered.  
“What?” Raph asked.  
“Yoooou-uuu liiike her” Mikey sang.  
“What?! That’s ridiculous” Raph yelled. But then something in his brain started to question if it was.  
“Oh come on, Raph. We’ve had years of watching Donnie pine over April”  
“And you over Karai!” Mikey put in.  
“Shut up, Mikey. The point is, we know what it looks like when someone’s crushing”  
“And you are soooo crushing over her” Mikey teased.  
“The science doesn’t lie, Raph. When you saw her you exhibited flushed cheeks, dilated pupils, quickened breathing, and I’d imagine your heartbeat quickened too. Not to mention you spent most of the evening in that ‘look at my muscles’ pose” Donnie said while Raph stared in disbelief.  
Maybe he did like her. She was definitely hot and he liked hanging out with her. Plus he hadn’t been able to get her off his mind for days and the idea of seeing her this evening had made him both nervous and excited.  
No. Raph couldn’t have a crush on her. Raph didn’t get crushes, he was emotionally distant and detached, that was his thing! He couldn’t turn into a mindless idiot like Donnie did around April!  
But then he thought about holding her hand and he felt something weird in his chest. Was that… butterflies?  
No. Raph couldn’t have a crush on her.  
But maybe he did…  
Oh damn it! He liked her!  
Leo, Donnie and Mikey watched Raph’s face as these thoughts went through his mind and each of them registered the exact moment that he realised the truth. Raph, already incredibly embarrassed, hurried off to his room to try and work out what to do with this information and how to make these damn butterflies go away.


	11. You Realise Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You come to a realisation and you aren't exactly happy about it.

It was the day after your evening with the turtles and you were at work, stacking shelves. The mundane nature of the activity meant that you had plenty of time to think things over. You still couldn’t stop thinking about Raph, in fact the problem seemed even worse now because every time you thought about him you couldn’t help but smile. Your coworkers were starting to look at you like you were crazy because of it. Despite the uncontrollable smiling, however, you also had a very unpleasant tight feeling in your chest that you just couldn’t explain.  
Slowly you began to realise that you’d felt like this before, there’d been a guy at school a few years ago who you’d had a massive thing for but he hardly knew that you existed. This couldn’t be the same thing, he was a bloody turtle, that’s like bestiality right? But then he was a mutant, it wasn’t the same thing. Still it wasn’t normal to be attracted to a mutant. But since when did normal matter. Just because something isn’t normal doesn’t mean it isn’t ok, doesn’t mean it can’t be ok for you.  
D’you know what? Fuck normal. You didn’t need to be normal, normal didn’t matter, and you liked Raph.  
Wait… You liked Raph. You like liked Raph.  
That thought hit you like a train. You liked him, you liked him in that way.  
Oh damn it! You knew what crushes were like, crushes weren’t fun. You hadn’t asked for this!  
You groaned, causing the girl stacking shelves next to you to look up.  
“Are you ok?” she asked.  
“Yeah, I just realised I have a crush on a guy, that’s all”  
A look of understanding dawned on her face.  
“I know your pain. Do you think he likes you too?”  
You rested your forehead against the shelf in front of you in despair, groaning again. “I don’t know, probably not, he doesn’t seem like the crush type”  
“Oh come on, everyone is the crush type. Don’t put yourself down like that. What you gotta do is text him like crazy and see how he responds. Besides, you might get lucky, he might feel the same and make a move before you have to do anything”  
“I guess”


	12. He Asks A Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raph wants to ask you a question, the problem is he has no idea how to do it.

Following the advice of the girl at work, you’d upped your texting game substantially. You and Raph had been in almost constant text contact for days, something which had not gone unnoticed by him. Your obvious enthusiasm had got Raph thinking that maybe his affections weren’t one-sided, but he still had doubts. Maybe you didn’t like him in that way, maybe this was just a friendship to you. Raph was in the unfortunate position of having never been flirted with before and the only examples he had of flirting were of his brothers and Casey, none of who were a girl and none of who he trusted to go to with this. He could always go to April with it but he didn’t really want to open up to anyone about anything as touchy-feely as this, he had a crush but he was still Raphael.  
So that was how he ended up sat on the sofa staring at his phone in abject misery, half desperate for Y/N to text back and half dreading it.  
Leo walked out of the dojo to find Raph like that and he couldn’t help but smile to himself. His brother had been like this ever since their evening at Y/N’s and it was starting to lose its hilarity and now just be pitiful. Leo walked over and sat down on the floor, switching the TV on and getting ready to rewatch his favourite Space Heroes episode. He hadn’t even made it passed the opening titles, however, when he heard Raph’s phone vibrate with a text, a sound swiftly followed by a pathetic sigh. Leo tried to ignore it but glancing over to his hot-headed brother he gave up and flipped the TV off again.  
“Why don’t you just ask her out?” he asked.  
“What? Ask who out?”  
“Y/N of course”  
“Why would I wanna do that?” Raph asked, feigning ignorance. Leo just raised his eyebrow (I know they don’t have eyebrows but you know what I mean)  
Raph sighed again. “I dunno, Leo”  
“Oh come on, you and her have been texting pretty much constantly for days. If you stop training one more time to reply to a text I’m pretty sure sensei is gonna lose it”  
“But what if she doesn’t like me?”  
“Well let me read your texts and I’ll see if I think she does”  
“What? Shell no!” Raph said, clutching his phone to his chest.  
“Fine then, continue on in misery”  
At that moment, April walked into the lair. “Hi guys!” she called, waving.  
“April, the perfect person” Leo said “You’ll know what to do”  
“Do about what?” she asked, hopping onto the sofa.  
“Raph’s been texting a girl” Leo started.  
“Leo!” Raph yelled, aiming a punch at his brother, which he skillfully ducked.  
“OHMYGOD TELL ME EVERYTHING” April yelled, turning to Raph and grabbing his shoulders. Laughing, Leo left Raph alone to April’s high-pitched girling.  
“She’s just a girl I rescued from some Purple Dragons a couple of weeks ago. We’ve hung out a couple of times, she’s cool”  
“You like her!” April squeaked.  
“I dunno, kinda… yeah”  
April just replied with an earsplitting squeal.  
“Thing is, I dunno if she likes me. We’ve been texting like constantly but I just have no idea what message she’s giving me”  
“Hand it over” April demanded, holding out her hand for Raph’s t-phone which he reluctantly handed over. She scanned through the texts for a minute or two while Raph sat tensely beside her. “Raph are you blind or something?” she asked, finally handing the phone back.  
“What?”  
“Oh come on, she’s so into you. How can’t you see it?”  
“She is?” Raph asked, his entire face lighting up.  
“Totally”  
“So what do I do?”  
“Ask her out, you idiot” she said, giving him a friendly shove. Raph’s euphoria at April’s judgement was swiftly replaced with a stomach-churning fear accompanied with an absolutely blank mind.  
“Great! But… how the hell do I ask a girl out?”  
Looking into Raph’s blank face she knew she had a lot of work to do. “Alright” she said “let’s start with the basics”

 

 

The text you received from Raph was simple: ‘Hey, nothing’s going on round here and I’m bored. Do you wanna meet up?”  
“Sure. What d’you have in mind?”  
“It’s a surprise. Be on your roof in an hour?”  
“Oooh ok, C U soon”  
You had no idea what Raph might be planning, but you were excited to see him anyway. Like Raph, you hadn’t been able to work out if he reciprocated your feelings or not but the constant texting had only served to increase your affections.  
In what came close to being panic, you rifled through your wardrobe for something good to wear. You’d only got back from work an hour ago and had gone straight from your work clothes into your PJs, not intending to go out again. Eventually you settled on black boot cut jeans, your favourite trainers, a f/c vest top and your leather jacket. You fixed your hair and put on a bit of makeup and then just sat on your sofa, counting down the minutes in nervous excitement.

Raph, on the other hand, was very busy. April had, of course, agreed to help him and had rushed to the closest shop to buy some snacks and stuff for a picnic. She helped him pack the supplies in a large bag, along with a blanket and a couple of cushions in a bag she would be carrying. Raph had chosen a rooftop looking over a nearby park and out over the city which, as the sun was slowly disappearing, was starting to light up like a Christmas tree. He and April set up the blanket and cushions with the snacks on top and she stayed to watch over it while Raph went to fetch you. She’d leave when you arrived, slipping away without being seen.

When Raph saw you stood on your roof he found it hard to believe how beautiful you looked and all the nerves he’d already been feeling trebled. He felt sick and a part of his brain was screaming the words ‘ABORT. ABORT. RUN AWAY’ at him with a red siren. Just the fact that you wanted to hang out with him was amazing to Raphael, the idea that you might want to go out with him seemed beyond ridiculous. But it was too late now, you’d seen him.  
“Hi Raph” you called, walking over to him.  
“Hey” Raph said. He looked uncomfortable and kind of awkward.  
“So what’s this surprise all about?” you asked.  
“Well I wanted to hang out but I thought inviting you to hang out on your own roof was kinda lame and I didn’t really wanna invite you to the lair with the others there and stuff, plus it’s kinda in the sewers”  
You weren’t surprised, it seemed right that they’d have to live somewhere they weren’t likely to be discovered.  
“So where are we going then?” you asked. Raph held out his hand for you to take, the feel of his hand in yours gave both of you butterflies. Raph led you across a few rooves, helping you across the smaller gaps between buildings and carrying you over the bigger ones which he jumped. Eventually you reached a roof with a blanket and cushions set out and food surrounding them.  
“Oh my god, a picnic” you said, clapping your hands excitedly.  
“Do you like it?”  
“I love it” you told him, flopping down on the blanket as he sat next to you. You were grinning but Raph still looked uncomfortable and even more awkward than before.  
“Is something up?” you asked.  
“Nothing. I’m just trying to find the courage to ask you somethin’, that’s all” he said.  
Your heart started to beat so much faster at that. What the hell did he mean? Was it something good or bad? You brought your breathing back to normal and looked into his eyes calmly, smiling.  
“Ask me what?”  
Raph broke the eye contact and looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s just, well, look I know we haven’t known each other that long but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you for days an’ the thing is, I like you. I really like you. And I was just wondering if you maybe wanna go out with me”  
You both froze, neither of you quite believing what had just happened. Raph couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid as to actually ask you and you couldn’t believe he actually liked you.  
After the longest second in either of your lives, you finally realised that you were supposed to answer now. You didn’t really think about your answer, hadn’t had time to process everything before your head was already nodding.  
“Yes” you said.  
Raph looked shocked.  
“What?”  
You couldn’t help but laugh.  
“I said yes, you idiot. Yes I wanna go out with you”  
“Really?”  
“Really. Like, really. Like really really really” you said before throwing yourself at him, ecstatic to finally be able to actually hug him. Raph didn’t usually like hugs, but when it was you hugging him he decided that hugs were the best thing in the world.  
The rest of the evening was just like a normal hang out only when your hands ended up next to each other on the blanket he barely hesitated before entwining his 3 fingers with your 5, and when you felt the urge to lean against him you didn’t stop yourself. That surprised Raph a bit, he wasn’t used to this at all, but he picked up on your signals and put his arm around you.  
A reasonable time to go home came and went and still neither of you moved.  
“I was so scared to ask you, you know” Raph said. “I was convinced you’d say no. I mean, look at me”  
“What you look like doesn’t matter, Raph. I like you for you”  
Raph, still in shock from you having said yes, just held you a little tighter.  
Eventually it was no longer evening and now full on night and you had to go home, much to both of your dismay. Raph took you back to your place, stopping outside your window which you’d left a little open so you could still open it fully from the outside and get back in.  
“I had a really great time” you said.  
“Me too. Let’s do it again soon, ok?”  
You leant in and placed your lips lightly on his for a moment before pulling away. Raph stood like a statue, unable to process the fact that you just kissed him.  
“I’m counting on it” you said before ducking inside, leaving Raph still stood like a statue.


	13. Second Date and Kissing

Raph certainly didn’t hang around. The day after the picnic you were texting like you normally did, well maybe you were being a little flirtier, well maybe a lot flirtier, and more obviously affectionate, but pretty soon he was asking you out on another date.  
‘How do you feel about going out on a proper date tonight?’ he asked.  
‘Was last night not a proper date then?’  
‘Last night was only a kinda date since I wasn’t sure you wanted to go out with me’  
‘Haha I see. Well I’d love to go on a “proper date” with you. I get off work at 5’  
‘Can I pick you up at 6:30 then?’  
‘Sure. I’m already counting the minutes’

*Time skip using the amazing time travel powers gifted to authors*

When you got home from work you were straight in the shower to wash your hair – no way were you going on your first official date with dirty hair. Once you got out you frantically dried your hair and hoped you would have enough time to get ready. Unfortunately, once you’d dried your hair you encountered a new and more substantial obstacle. Clothes.  
What the hell do you wear on a date? What the hell would Raph like? Was it ok to wear jeans again even though that was all he’d ever seen you in?  
Staring at your wardrobe you despaired for a while but you eventually picked out an outfit, one which was still kinda casual but looked like you’d made an effort. You did your makeup and messed around with a couple of hairstyles before eventually deciding on natural hair.  
Glancing at your phone you saw that it was nearly half 6 so you grabbed your bag and clambered out onto the fire escape to wait. It wasn’t long before you noticed the familiar silhouette making its way towards you and onto your fire escape. Raph dropped down next to you and smiled.  
“Hey” he said.  
“Hey”  
“You look amazing”  
You blushed. “Thanks, you don’t look so bad yourself”  
“I look exactly like I always do” he said.  
“Exactly” you replied with a smile, causing him to blush now.  
“You ready then?” he asked.  
“Yeah. Where we going?”  
“I know a really great noodle shop. The owner makes this amazing thing called pizza gyōza that you gotta try” Raph said, taking your hand and the two of you started walking up to the roof so you could get there unseen.  
“Wait, a restaurant, are you sure?”  
“Don’t worry, the owner’s a friend”  
“How’d you make a restaurant owner friend?”  
“Same way I got a human girlfriend” he replied, watching you closely to see how you responded to the use of the word girlfriend, Raph knew that human relationships normally took ages to get to that stage but he felt like pushing his luck. You smiled, signally that you liked it. “We saved him from some Purple Dragons”  
“Is that the only way you meet new people?” you asked.  
“Well how else am I supposed to make friends?”  
“Have you heard of social networking?” you asked jokingly.  
“Mikey tried that, it didn’t work out well. He made friends with Chris Bradford but he turned out to be working for the boss of the Foot Clan”  
“No way! Chris Bradford?”  
“Yeah. He’s a giant dog mutant now”  
“I just thought he stopped showing up ‘cause he was no longer culturally relevant” you said and Raph laughed.  
“He’d probably kill you if he heard that”  
“I don’t doubt it. A giant dog, huh?”

The two of you chatted cheerily all the way to the restaurant. You checked that the coast was clear and Raph showed you how to use the weird ordering machine thing. You ordered pizza gyōza, like Raph recommended and collected your token before the two of you headed in.  
Mr. Murakami, the blind owner, looked up at the sound of the door opening.  
“Hi Mr. Murakami” Raph greeted him.  
“Hello Raphael”  
“This is Y/N” Raph said “She’s my, uh, girlfriend”  
The chef raised an eyebrow. “A pleasure to meet you, Y/N”  
“The pleasure is all mine” you said. Raph handed over your tokens and Mr. Murakami smiled.  
“Two pizza gyōza coming up” he said.  
You continued to chat while you waited for your food. Raph asked you about your day and you told him about work and complained about customers before you asked him and he told you about his training and complained about his brothers. Pretty quickly two plates of some kind of dumpling thing were being pushed across the counter. You thanked Mr. Murakami and, with a lot of concentration, picked one of the dumpling things up with the chopsticks.  
“Now Y/N, are you ready for this? Because once you’ve tried pizza gyōza there’s no going back” Raph said very seriously. You laughed.  
“Yeah, Raph, I think I’m ready”  
You were not ready. Raph had been right, once you tasted that first mouthful you felt like your life had been changed forever. It tasted like you imagined heaven would taste if it were a food. Raph watched your face as you had what could only be described as a religious experience with your food and laughed.  
“I tried to warn you” he said, popping one into his mouth so casually that you wanted to yell at him. How could be so casual about eating something so beyond perfect?  
“Mr. Murakami, I want to thank you for creating this. It is the most perfect thing in existence”  
The cook laughed. “Thank you, I am glad you think so”

You ate slowly, not feeling the need to rush through either your meal or your time with Raph. Mr. Murakami refused to let you pay for the food, insisting that Raphael and his brothers had more than earned the right to eat free in his restaurant and that privilege extended to Raph’s date as well. As you were leaving the restaurant Raph turned back to the owner.  
“Mr. Murakami, if any of the others come here could you not tell them about Y/N and me, they don’t know yet”  
Mr. Murakami smiled. “Of course, Raphael. Young love is a precious and fragile thing, I will gladly keep your secret”  
You both blushed at the mention of young love and thanked him as you left.  
You ended the evening sat on your roof, looking out over the city.  
“I’ve had a really great evening, Raph” you said.  
“Me too” he replied. You were both feeling a little awkward. You wanted to kiss Raph and Raph wanted to kiss you but neither of you wanted to make a move at the wrong time and screw things up. Your hands were casually resting next to each other and Raph shuffled his closer until it was eventually holding yours. The two of you kept making eye contact and looking away again awkwardly. You shuffled a little closer to him but did nothing more.  
Another minute of awkward glances and shy smiles went by and still neither of you could pluck up the courage to make a move.  
“We’re both thinking about it, aren’t we?” you said eventually.  
“If by ‘it’ you mean what I think you mean, then yeah” Raph replied.  
“If only it were raining, that would make it so much easier” you said.  
“Why would that help?”  
You rolled your eyes. “You need to see more movies. Rain is like the most romantic time to kiss”  
“Seems like the least romantic time to kiss, what with it being wet and cold and your hair would be clinging to your face and stuff”  
“Well when do you think it’s romantic to kiss then?” you asked.  
“How about now?” Raph said and before you could respond he’d crossed the few inches between you and was kissing you.  
It didn’t feel like you imagined it would, but then you didn’t have much experience kissing turtles so you didn’t really have anything to go off. It didn’t feel bad though. Raph’s lips were surprisingly warm and rough but still kinda soft too, and he was gentle yet forceful enough that you could tell there was some kind of technique at play here. God only knows how Raph had learned how to kiss, but he was good.  
You were only taken aback for a moment before you started to kiss him back, naturally feeling what to do despite your own inexperience. After a moment you pulled away.  
“Woah” is all Raph could say.  
“Damn” You said in return “That was…”  
“Yeah”  
You were both still reeling but you decided that if it was good once then it would probably be good a second time so leaned in and kissed Raph again. This time neither of you hesitated to kiss back.  
“I’m sorry if I’m really bad at this” Raph said after a bit “I just don’t have any practice”  
“You’re doing amazing, now don’t you dare stop” you muttered and he was only too happy to obey.  
“You know, this is not how I saw my life going at all” you said after a bit longer, pulling away just enough to be able to whisper.  
“Funny, this is exactly how I thought my life would go” Raph asked with a smirk.  
You smiled at him “Well then you should be prepared”  
“Do people normally talk this much while they’re kissing?” he asked, quirking a brow at you.  
“No, now shut up” you said, pulling his head back towards yours and smashing your lips together to reinforce the instruction.


	14. You Organise a Date

It was two days since you’d last seen Raph and the two of you had agreed it was your turn to organise a date and boy did you have plans. You’d texted him yesterday, telling him to meet you outside a nearby restaurant which had closed down ages ago and was now just sitting empty. The premises were kept locked up but the yard at the back was still accessible if you really wanted it to be. No one ever went there, making it perfect for hiding your reptilian boyfriend, and there was an old garage lined with shelves where they’d kept supplies and stuff but which were now just empty.  
There’d been a crockery based disaster at the shop where you worked in which a shelf containing several boxes of dinner sets had collapsed, leaving most of the sets damaged so that they couldn’t be sold and were now just sitting out the back of the shop next to the dumpster waiting to be taken away with the rest of the rubbish. This was what had given you the idea for your date.  
You were only working a half day today so it was early afternoon when you left, taking one of the large cardboard boxes which goods were delivered in and were left out for people to take if they wanted them. You headed out to the back and piled up several sets in the box, eventually taking them out of their boxes and just piling your larger box up with loose crockery, before ordering and taxi to take you to the street with the closed restaurant.  
It was a battle to get both you and the box into the yard without you dropping it but eventually you managed it, hauling the garage door open and carefully lining all of the shelves with chipped plates, bowls and cups, propped up against the wall so they were stood up. Eventually your masterpiece was finished and you rushed off back home to change out of your dirty clothes and into something more attractive.

 

When Raph showed up where you’d asked him to meet you he found you leaning casually against the restaurant front, a bag of takeout food at your feet.  
“Hey Raph” you called when you saw him.  
“Hey Y/N. What are we doing here, this ain’t exactly the most romantic place”  
“True, but this isn’t where we’re having our date. Come with me” you said with a sly smile, heading off down the alley next to the restaurant.  
“Ah yes, alleys are so much more romantic, how didn’t I realise” he said sarcastically. Secretly, Raph was loving the intrigue, but he couldn’t help being sarcastic. At the end of the alley was a wire fence which led into the restaurant’s back yard. You passed him the bag of food you were holding and leant down and took hold of a corner of the fence, yanking the loose mesh up and gesturing for him to enter. Raph was really curious now.  
To him, the yard looked simple enough. It was pretty much empty, actually it looked like it had been swept, something you’d done specially for this so that there wasn’t rubbish everywhere.  
“Ok I know this all looks a bit weird but I have my reasons” you said “so I was thinking about what we could do, which wasn’t exactly easy since there aren’t many places you can take a giant turtle on a date, and you’ve already done a picnic and dinner so social custom dictated that I now have to do something fun. Then there was a shelf-based disaster at work and it gave me an idea”  
“Y/N, what the hell are you on about?” Raph asked, now just really confused.  
“Give me a moment, I’m quite proud of this and I wanna do a dramatic reveal” you said, running over to the garage and grabbing the handle. “Ready?”  
“Yeah, I’m ready, now just show me already”  
You pulled the garage door up to reveal the shelves beyond it lined with crockery covered in a hideous crown pattern. “Tadaa!”  
“What the?”  
“It’s based off a thing they sometimes have at funfairs and stuff. You get a ball or something, we will be using beanbags, and you chuck it at the crockery and try to destroy as much as you can with one throw”  
At the mention of destroying stuff Raph’s confusion cleared and his face lit up. You chucked him a beanbag. “Have a go” you said.  
“So I just gotta destroy as much as I can with one throw?” he asked and you nodded, laughing at the obvious glee on his face.  
You watched him hurl the beanbag at the shelves, completely obliterating an entire shelf of plates with a very satisfying crash. Raph grinned.  
“This is the possibly the best game I’ve ever heard of” he said.  
“Glad you like it” you said, turning to the food bag and starting to remove the various containers. “Now come on, we gotta eat this before it gets cold. We can continue to destroy stuff when we’ve eaten”  
Raph looked longingly at the rest of the shelves, they were just begging to be destroyed, but then the scent of food reached his nose and his hunger intervened.  
While you ate and chatted, Raph’s attention was gradually drawn back to the crockery.  
“That stuff really is hideous” he remarked, staring at the cartoonish crowns which formed a border on the plates and bowls.  
“I know, It’s probably a good thing it got damaged, no one deserves to have to own that”  
“Don’t you technically own it now?”  
“Yeah, I guess I do. Maybe the crowns mean I’m the queen of bad crockery or something”  
Raph looked at you, considering. “Nah, you ain’t a queen, you’re a princess”  
“Then you’re my knight in shining armour”  
Raph clambered to his feet and knelt down in front of you “In which case I pledge myself to serve you, my lady Y/N”  
You stood up in front of him. “Thank you, sir knight, your loyalty will not go unrewarded. But first I request that you save me from this hideous crockery, my honour depends upon it”  
“As you wish, princess” Raph said with a grin, getting to his feet and picking up another beanbag, throwing it full force at the shelves and causing carnage among some mugs.  
You took it in turns to put an end to the hideous dinner sets. You were good, missing very few throws, but Raph was far better. At one point he managed to take out one of the supports holding up the rotting shelves and brought 3 full shelves crashing down in one move. That particular victory was followed by much celebration from the two of you. You both cheered and Raph swept you up in his arms, pulling you off the ground. From your position in his grasp, you leant down and kissed him slowly.  
“I told you your deeds would not go unrewarded” you said with a smile.  
“Your kiss is the best reward I could have hoped for” he replied and so you kissed him again.  
“I’m glad you like it, because kisses are free. Now come on, put me down, I wanna destroy stuff” you said, patting his arm. Raph did as he was bid.  
“Beautiful, funny, and you like to destroy stuff. Are you the perfect woman?” he asked, looking at you in what can only be described as awe. You blushed and laughed to cover the awkwardness you felt at being complimented. You’d always found compliments easier to give than to receive.  
Raph just grinned at your obvious embarrassment. He found it hard to believe that someone as gorgeous as you could possibly not know it, but every time he gave you a compliment you blushed and laughed and then tried to brush it off. He passed you a beanbag to give you a way to move passed the moment and you took it gratefully, but as you pulled your arm back to throw it he said “You’re beautiful when you’re throwing stuff”, a comment which seemed so utterly ridiculous that it put you off your throw entirely. Only one plate met its end as a result and you looked at him, mildly annoyed.  
“What? It’s true” he said. You just passed him a beanbag, gesturing for him to take his go. But, just as he was pulling his arm back, you pounced on him and started to tickle.  
“I’ll teach you to ruin my throw!” you yelled while Raph howled with laughter.  
“No, no stop, please” he begged, falling to the ground.  
“Beg me for mercy” you commanded, not stopping.  
“Mercy! Please!” he cried and you eventually relented, picking up the beanbag he’d dropped and throwing it yourself.  
“Alright, we’re even” you said, looking down at Raph who was still trying to catch his breath and regain his composure.  
It said a lot about how much Raph liked you that he didn’t retaliate. If it had been one of his brothers who’d done that, he would have flipped the tables and made them regret it, but when he saw the way you were smiling at him and the rosy glow on your cheeks you had from laughing, no way could Raph be angry. If it meant you looked like that, Raph would let you tickle him anytime.  
The rest of the tableware didn’t last very long, with the two of you eventually losing all control and going for a free-for-all, raining destruction down on the hideous dishes without mercy. Eventually, just one mug remained. You both looked at it, eyeing it carefully. You had spent more time watching Raph than actually throwing stuff in the past 5 minutes and the more you watched him the more you just wanted to kiss him. This mug was now the only obstacle between you and his lips, once it was gone there would be no more distractions. You stepped back, gesturing for Raph to take the final throw.  
“It is up to you now, Sir Raphael. Destroy the final threat to my honour. Take. It. Out”  
Raph grinned at you. “Anything for you, princess”  
Raph’s final shot was perfect, knocking the mug straight off the shelf and onto the floor where it shattered into a million tiny shards. He hadn’t even finished celebrating before your arms were around him and your lips were on his, and he didn’t hesitate to reciprocate the gesture.  
“How do you like my date then?” you asked when you finally pulled away.  
“Best date ever” he murmured before pulling you back in for another kiss.


	15. The Others Find Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raph's brothers can be so nosy, and they know exactly how to get him to talk.

It was late when Raph slipped into the lair. He’d been at yours, watching movies and cuddling, and the two of you had completely lost track of time. He hadn’t expected anyone to still be up when he finally returned home, feeling happy and completely calm, a state he had been experiencing a lot recently. However, what Raph actually found was his brothers crowded around the TV in the middle of a heated gaming tournament.  
He tried to sneak passed them but Mikey, ever keen to inconvenience, looked around just as he entered.  
“Hey Raph!” he said, causing the other 2 to pause the game and turn to look.  
“Where’ve you been this late?” Leo asked. Raph shrugged.  
“Just out. Streets won’t clean themselves up, we can’t all sit around playing video games” he said and headed off towards his room.  
“You don’t look like you’ve been fighting” Donnie said, causing Raph to stop again and turn to face them “You look too… relaxed”  
“Yeah, you look kinda…” Leo said.  
“Happy” Mikey finished.  
“Well I like pounding scum, what can I say?” Raph said, again making to leave, and again being stopped when his brothers continued to talk to him.  
“No, we’ve seen you when you’ve been hitting things, this isn’t like that. You’re calm” Donnie said.  
“You’ve been disappearing a lot recently” Leo said, getting up off the sofa to face Raph “and you’ve been a lot calmer at home. Where’ve you been going?”  
“Nowhere” Raph said, a flush starting to rise in his cheeks.  
“Oh come on dude, tell us” Mikey whined.  
“What’s it matter?” he asked, starting to get angry “Maybe I just wanna live my own life, without getting interrogated every time I go out!”  
“Woah, calm down Raph, we’re not interrogating you. We’re just curious” Donnie said, putting his hands up defensively.  
“Oooh I bet he’s been hanging out with his girrrlfriend, Y/N” Mikey said and Raph was instantly defensive.  
“What? She’s not my girlfriend, Mikey, and why would I be spending time with her anyway?” he said just a little too quickly, his face turning almost as red as his mask. Raph’s brothers weren’t blind, they could see what was right in front of them.  
“He has been with her!” Mikey yelled triumphantly.  
“Raph, have you been seeing Y/N?” Leo asked, a smile creeping onto his face.  
“No!”  
The others just looked at him with an ‘I don’t believe you’ look.  
“Maybe I’ve seen her a couple of times” Raph finally said.  
It was clear to Leo, Donnie and Mikey that there was more here than Raph was saying, and Donnie though he knew just the way to get Raph to say it.  
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Raph?” he asked “Remember Leo with Karai. She could be working for the Foot”  
“She’s not working for the damn Foot!” Raph yelled “Why do you guys have to be suspicious of everything? Is it really so hard to believe that someone out there likes me for me? Is it really so impossible that a human might actually wanna be with a mutant?”  
Bingo.  
“Woah, Raph, did you just say…?” Leo asked, Donnie smiled smugly and a moment later Mikey’s face lit up with realisation too.  
“RAPH HAS A GIRLFRIEND” Mikey yelled.  
Raph, possibly for the first time ever, couldn’t think of what to say. He didn’t want to deny it, because it was true and he kind of wanted to lord it over his brothers, but he didn’t really want to tell them it was true either because his brothers were nosy and annoying. Unfortunately, the silence he opted for did more to confirm it than most answers would have done.  
Leo and Donnie, who’d really just been joking up until now, stared at him in amazement, while Mikey danced up and down in the background and overloaded on the cuteness that Raph actually had a real life, human, normal person girlfriend. They’d known Raph liked her, and Leo had known he’d been considering asking her out, but the fact that he’d actually plucked up the courage to do it, and the fact that she’d said yes, and the fact that Raph had been keeping a relationship a secret all added up to make 2 very stunned turtles.  
“H-how…” Leo tried to say.  
“But… You…” Donnie said.  
“When…” Leo tried again.  
“But… She…” Donnie stuttered.  
“Are you sure?” Leo said, finally forming a cohesive question.  
Raph, who couldn’t help but enjoy his brothers’ reactions, smiled. “Pretty darn sure”  
Mikey finally gained control over his emotions and threw himself at Raph. “TELL ME EVERYTHING. How long? What have you done? How did it happen? Did you trick her into it? When’s she coming round here? She knows you’re a turtle, right?”  
Raph kept Mikey at arm’s length while he replied. “About 2 weeks. None of your business. I don’t know how it happened. No I didn’t trick her. I don’t know when she’s coming round that’s up to her. Yes, she knows I’m a turtle”  
Leo and Donnie were still staring in shock at the thought that Raph - their angry, volatile, violent, sarcastic, emotionally closed brother – had managed to get a girl to go out with him when neither of them had managed it. But they’d met the girl in question, she certainly seemed normal and innocent enough.  
Raph, who’d had his fill of questions and wanted to get away as quickly as possible, finally managed to go to his room, leaving Leo and Donnie still stood staring.  
“Maybe she’s into green guys” Leo suggested.


	16. You Visit The Lair

“Raph, are you sure about this?” you asked, pausing in the alley and staring down into the hole beneath the manhole Raphael had just lifted.  
“I know it’s a sewer but I promise the lair is a lot nicer than the route there”  
“It’s not the location I’m having issues with, babe. It’s just, well it’s kind of intimidating meeting your family like this”  
“You’ve met my brothers before”  
“Yeah, but I wasn’t your girlfriend at the time. Now there’s a whole other set of criteria I’m being judged on”  
“They’re gonna love you, princess, I promise. Come on, let’s not keep them waiting” Raph said, offering you a hand down the manhole.  
The sewer was, well, a sewer. It was dirty and smelly, but the pathway was pretty clean, obviously the turtles didn’t fancy walking through waste any more than you did. Raph led you through the tunnels for a while, eventually leading you out into an abandoned subway tunnel. This tunnel smelt better than the sewer did and it was bigger and cleaner. A short way down it you could see a light and you could hear some voices, it was at this point that Raph turned to you.  
“Before we get there, there’s something else I should probably mention”  
“Oh?”  
“Master Splinter will probably want to meet you too”  
“What?! Why the hell didn’t you say something before? I’m not prepared for that! What do I say to him? How do I address him? This is a very big step! He’s your dad!”  
Raph chuckled. “Calm down, look it’ll be fine. I didn’t tell you ‘cause I didn’t wanna stress you out any more than you already were. Call him Master Splinter, and just talk to him like a normal human being”  
You calmed your breathing a little. “Ok, alright. Is there anything else I don’t know?”  
“Errr…”  
“Raph…”  
“So maybe Splinter doesn’t actually know I have a girlfriend…”  
If looks could kill, Raph would have died there and then. “What did you just say?”  
“I haven’t told Splinter that I have a girlfriend, ok”  
“And you were hoping I’d tell him?!”  
“No, no, I was kinda hoping I could tell him by just introducing you”  
“If you have any more surprises for me then you won’t have a girlfriend to introduce” you said, glaring.  
“Noted” Raph said. “You’re not mad are you?”  
You looked at Raph, he genuinely looked worried. “No, I’m not mad, just stressed as hell” you said. The two of you reached the entrance to the lair and you stopped, grabbing Raph’s hand tightly.  
“Don’t you dare let go of my hand” you muttered, Raph just tightened his grip in response and then guided you around the wall you were hiding behind and into the lair.  
You weren’t sure what you’d been expecting, but you were blown away anyway. The lair was cool, really cool, like a mixture of adorably domestic and a teenage boy’s dream. You had no idea how they’d managed to create this but you were pretty damn sure that it was better than any other home in New York.  
Leo, Donnie and Mikey were sat on the massive sofa in the centre of the room and they turned to look when the two of you entered.  
“Guys, you’ve met my girlfriend” Raph said grandly. This was met with loud chatter from which very little was actually discernible. You were smiling, but Raph could feel how tightly you were holding his hand.  
“Umm, hi” you said, giving them a little wave. This prompted a more articulate greeting from the turtles. Raph led you over to sit on the sofa, still holding your hand like he’d promised.  
“So Y/N, you and Raph huh, I did not see that coming” Leo said.  
“Did anyone?” Donnie replied.  
“What can I say, I’m a sucker for a handsome face” you said. Mikey made kissing noises.  
“But, it’s Raph” Donnie said. Raph leant over and whispered to you.  
“Donnie and Leo are still in shock that I got a girlfriend”  
You grinned at him. At the sight of Raph whispering to you, Mikey made kissing noises.  
Leo, mostly joking but partly serious, spoke next. “Y/N, are you sure he didn’t trick you into this or something? He’s not threatened you or bribed you, has he?”  
You laughed. “No, I said I’d go out with him all of my own accord”  
Mikey made kissing noises.  
“Well I have to hand it to you, Raph, she seems sane enough. Apparently she genuinely likes you for you” Donnie said.  
“Seriously, what kind of an ass are you to these guys that they find it so hard to believe?” you asked Raph and the others laughed.  
“Honestly, they deserve it” Raph said.  
You looked away from Raph to find Leo looking at the two of you and looking a little confused, apparently Raph was right when he said they were still in shock. An idea popped into your mind. You turned to look at Raph again, who was glaring daggers at Mikey who was still making kissing noises.  
“Hey babe” you said and he turned to look at you.  
“Yeah”  
You leant in and gave Raph a proper, slow kiss, releasing his hand for the first time since you entered the lair so that you could wrap your arms around his neck and Raph could wrap his arms around your waist. This was something the likes of which the other turtles had never seen before and they watched, opened mouthed, as you continued to kiss passionately.  
“Don’t they need to breathe?” Leo asked.  
“Apparently oxygen is a secondary need compared to each other’s faces” Donnie said. Mikey started to wave his hand in front of the two of you, receiving a punch from Raph who didn’t even break the kiss. Eventually you did pull away and the two of you looked at the others with matching smug smirks.  
“I hope that answers all your questions” you said sweetly. Whether or not it answered all the questions I couldn’t say, but it certainly put a stop to them.


	17. You Visit The Lair - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You meet Master Splinter

Q&A over you turned to discussing the lair with the turtles.  
“Well guys, I gotta say, your home is fricking amazing. It’s like the ultimate secret hideout” you said. Almost simultaneously they all did the same modest shrug.  
“It’s our home, I guess we just made it what we wanted it to be” Leo said. That explained why it looked like a teenage boy’s dream.  
“Where’d you get all this stuff, anyway?” you asked, marveling at the arcade machines, TV etc. “It’s not like you can go to a department store”  
“It’s incredible the kind of stuff people throw away. The stuff that shows up in the sewers is amazing, and since we were allowed on the surface we’ve been able to find things in junkyards and dumpsters. It kind of makes me despair at humanity to see the stuff they just discard” Donnie said.  
“And Donnie can fix pretty much anything broken that we find. He’s a genius” Mikey said. Donnie blushed.  
There was a noise across the room and everyone looked up.  
“Raph” Leo whispered “Does Sensei know about you and Y/N?”  
Raph shook his head.  
“I think he’s about to” Donnie said as a section of the panel wall slid back and a giant rat walked into the room. Upon seeing you he stopped.  
“Who is this?” he asked, you couldn’t quite tell if he sounded angry or not, his voice and face showed no clear emotion. The other three turtles looked to Raph. Your hand was back in his now and Raph and you got to your feet. He led you over to the intimidating rat and you felt a lump in your throat. Splinter’s eyes fell to your joined hands but his expression remained unreadable.  
“Sensei, this is Y/N” Raph said a little hesitantly “She’s, um, she’s my uh” Raph stuttered. You squeezed his hand to reassure him, even though you were probably feeling even less confident than he was right now. Raph squeezed back before finally saying “She’s my girlfriend”  
Even that didn’t get a significant reaction, Master Splinter just smiled kindly. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Y/N”  
“The pleasure is all mine, Master Splinter” you said, not managing to make eye contact.  
Introduction over, Splinter could now ask all the questions on his mind.  
“Well this certainly explains your unusual behaviour lately, my son. How long has this been going on?”  
“We’ve been together three weeks, sensei” Raph replied.  
“And how did you meet?” he asked next.  
“Raph saved me when I was being mugged by some Purple Dragons” you said.  
“Well any girl who can tame Raphael’s fiery heart is to be admired greatly. I must offer you my congratulations and respect, you have brought about in him a calmness that I have spent his whole life attempting to teach”  
You looked at Raph with great affection. “Trust me, Master Splinter, it was unconsciously done”  
“You don’t make me angry like everyone else, that’s all” Raph said, looking at you with matching affection in his eyes.  
Splinter smiled to himself. He was no stranger to young love and it made him happy to see one of his sons experiencing it, despite their unusual appearance his sons were still normal teenage boys in many respects. And anyone who could keep Raphael from hitting everything that moved could only be a good thing.


	18. You Cuddle

You and Raph had stolen a few moments alone together in the lair to watch TV. You had been hanging out more and more there, becoming better friends with his brothers, and it had given you the chance to see a different side of Raph, the hothead you’d heard so much about. However, it also meant that the two of you got less time alone and time together in anywhere other than his room was precious indeed. You were watching the TV but you weren’t really paying attention as you leant against Raph’s shoulder, his arm around your shoulders.  
After a while, Raph’s hand started to absentmindedly play with your hair. It felt nice and you closed your eyes, focusing on his surprisingly gentle touch as you felt the movement of each tiny hair. Raph looked down at you and noticed your closed eyes and the smile playing on your lips which, in turn, caused him to smile. Gently, Raph pulled you down to lay on the sofa, sliding down to lie next to you, tucking his arms around you while keeping his hand in your hair, now rubbing small circles on your scalp with his thumb and forefinger.  
Without thinking about it, or even noticing that you did it, you tangled your legs with his. Maybe you were trying to keep him there so that he wouldn’t stop, or maybe you just liked being so close to him. Raph was affectionate towards you and, to the constant surprise of his brothers, he wasn’t afraid to show it, but he was very rarely so gentle and tender. Raph’s affection came in the form of kisses and hand-holding, ways to keep you close and safe and to show everyone else that you were his and he was yours, Raph was in no way a subtle person. This side of Raph was the one he kept hidden and you were determined to relish it while you could, snuggling deeper into his arms and resting back against his plastron, eyes still closed and smile still on you face.  
Raph liked the way you tucked into him, he liked the slight murmurs you made when his calloused fingers rubbed against just the right spot on your scalp, and he liked the way your legs knotted with his to create one mass of limbs. Maybe Raph would be cuddling you a lot more in future.


	19. You Calm Him Down

When Raph looked at you he saw only perfection, but when he discovered that you had never played pinball on a proper pinball machine he decided that he could improve on perfection, and so he took you under his wing and began to train you in the subtle art of pinball. You’d only been at it for about an hour but you were already showing vast improvement and were, in fact, in middle of your best game yet. That was when the water balloon hit.  
It was cold, wet, and completely unexpected. As soon as you felt the icy water on your skin you seized up, hands springing away from the machine as you squealed. Raph, who had only received the edge of the splash, was instantly alert and looking around. He hadn’t even located the attacker before he was yelling their name. “Mikey!” Raph yelled as the pinball machine flashed up a massive ‘GAME OVER’, your personal best coming to an end after your distraction.  
You felt a stab of anger, but then the funny side seeped in. Mikey had got you good.  
“Dr. Prankenstein strikes again!” Mikey yelled “Consider this your official officiation, Dudette”  
You were smiling, Raph was not. Your hothead boyfriend’s hands clenched into fists and you could hear and low growl emanating from his throat. His muscles had all tensed and he was ready to pounce on his younger brother, who was already running. By the TV, Leo and Donnie were watching apprehensively. They’d both known your initiation into Mikey’s personal circle was coming, everyone had had one, and they’d both known that it may not end well for Mikey. You seemed to be taking it all in your stride, grinning in admittance of your defeat, but Raph was clearly annoyed.  
Raph turned to you to make sure you were ok, taking in your apparent wellbeing but not your smile, before turning back to Mikey. His growl became louder, but in the moment before he pounced he felt a hand on his arm and he turned to look at you  
“Raph, babe, it’s ok” you said, humour in your voice “Mikey got me. It was a prank, a joke. It’s not worth getting worked up about”  
There was a fire in Raph’s eyes, but when he saw your smiling face and felt your gentle touch the fire dimmed and when he heard you laugh the fire went out completely.  
“Yeah, you’re right” he said and you laughed again.  
“They weren’t kidding when they said you were a hothead, were they?” you said, leaning in to kiss him. Raph elected not to reply but kissed you back instead, all thoughts of violence and anger brushed from his mind by your lips and the soothing hand you placed on the back of his head.  
Leo, Donnie and Mikey stared in disbelief. They had never seen anyone diffuse Raph’s temper so quickly and easily. Their brother had been ready to pound Mikey into the ground and you had stopped him with a simple hand on his shoulder and a few words. They must have slipped into an alternate dimension, or maybe Raph had been replaced with a Kraang droid. There had to be something to explain Mikey’s currently being un-pounded and the fact that Raph was kissing you and not punching something.  
There was an explanation of course, you.  
When the 2 of you pulled away from the kiss Raph actually smiled. “You’re soaking” he said. You shivered.  
“Water will do that to a girl. Maybe you can warm me up”  
Raph smirked. “Maybe I can”


	20. You Meet The Others

April and Casey hadn’t been to the lair much recently, it seems trying to balance real life with crime-fighting turtles isn’t always easy, and so they hadn’t really encountered you yet. Casey had met you when he and Raph rescued you from that first Purple Dragon encounter but he’d heard nothing of you since, and April knew Raph and you had been on a couple of dates but Raph had been pretty closed off on the subject and she didn’t wanna push him, Raph didn’t really talk about touchy-feely stuff like that. The others didn’t say anything about it, they respected Raph’s privacy, something which either shows their maturity, or more likely their fear of him hitting them.  
And so, when the two of them emerged from the lair’s kitchen to see you and Raph coming back from a date, hand-in-hand, it was a sight which stopped them in their tracks. When Raph leant in to kiss you they started to back away, silently re-entering the kitchen where Mikey was cooking. April was grinning, Casey looked confused as all hell.  
“Mikey, is that the girl Raph and I saved from those Purple Dragons?” Casey asked.  
“Oh Y/N, yeah, she’s kinda Raph’s girlfriend now”  
Casey’s jaw dropped, April squealed.  
“Since when?” Casey asked.  
“It’s been a few weeks”  
“Can we go meet her?” April asked, the excitement obvious in her voice.  
“Sure, I don’t see why not” Mikey shrugged. The two humans rushed out the room.  
You and Raph looked up at the sound of footsteps. You froze when you saw two people you didn’t recognise. “Hi guys” Raph said casually. “Y/N, this is April and Casey, they’re friends. Casey was the one I was with when we met”  
“Yeah I remember, hi” you said, waving a little awkwardly. April and Casey waved back and then headed over to sit with you, April sitting next to you and Casey sitting next to Raph.  
“It’s so good to meet you” April said with a smile “It’s gonna be so good to have another girl around here”  
You laughed. “Yeah, I had noticed it gets a bit boy-intensive”  
“That’s the understatement of the century. But you and Raph, huh”  
“Everyone says that” you said with a grin “Leo and Donnie could barely take it in”  
“Well, no offence, but Raph can be a bit… intense, and kinda cut off”  
“So I hear, he’s never really been like that with me”  
April’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. “Never?”  
You shook your head. “I’ve seen him be like that with the others, but not with me”  
April smiled. “He must reeeaaallly like you”  
“Well the feeling’s mutual”

Raph and Casey’s conversation had gone more along the lines of “DUDE, why didn’t you say anything?!”  
“I don’t need to tell you everything in my life, Jones”  
“But DUDE! You got a girl!”  
“Yeah, Casey, I noticed”  
“But Raph, it’s YOU, and she’s hot, and it’s you, and you’re more likely to punch someone than ask them out”  
“Alright Casey, I get your point. But she’s different, alright”  
“But dude, you got a girl!”  
That was when Raph, tired of this and hoping to spend time with you, pushed Casey off the sofa, where he rolled around for a bit and complained at Raph while you and April exchanged numbers before April grabbed him by his ear and dragged him away so that you and Raph could be alone.


	21. You Make Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so, just gonna get it out there, I've never kissed anyone so I'm absolutely clueless about all this. I tried anyway. I wasn't sure where this one was gonna go and it ended up being more romantic than anything else, I hope you like it.

After several disastrous conversations, it had become clear to you that Raph needed some education when it came to films. It wasn’t even like he just had a gap in his knowledge when it came to things like romance films or children’s films, it was all genres. Raph knew nothing about pretty much all films, he’d seen a few but not enough and not even classics. It was hardly surprising, but it wasn’t acceptable.  
With the sentence ‘no boyfriend of mine is going to be this clueless’ you had informed Raph that you would be educating him, starting that Saturday with a movie day. He hadn’t complained, a day with just you, food and films had sounded great.

You’d selected a few films you knew Raph would love and the two of you got through the first film well, he seemed to really enjoy it and be engaged. The second film went down well too. By the third film, however, Raph’s eyes couldn’t help but wander. It wasn’t that he was bored, far from it, it was just that there was something far more interesting to him than the film, you, and after hours sat next to you with no more than a bit of cuddling and a couple of kisses, his mind was starting to stray.  
It started with a kiss, just his hand on your chin, gently turning your head to meet his lips. Then another kiss, him moving his body so that he was slightly in between you and the TV.  
“Raph, watch the movie” you giggled.  
“The movie can wait” he whispered gruffly in your ear, sliding one hand around your neck and planting the other possessively on your waist. Your eyes met his, only a couple of inches from yours, piercing green and intent on you. Your heart fluttered.  
Raph was right the movie could wait, you couldn’t. You wanted him, needed him, and Raph could see it in your eyes.  
He leant in, kissing you again, slowly at first but getting firmer. You flipped the pause switch on the remote without even looking before one of your hands found its way up to the back of Raph’s head, the other grasping the muscular green arm at your side. When Raph felt your hand on his arm his fingers on your waist flexed, gently caressing your side.  
You and Raph had, of course, kissed before, but never like this. There’d never been this hunger there before, the need to feel him, to hold him and be held by him. Your worlds shrank down so that the only thing in them was you and him, his hand on your waist and your fingers scraping gently against his shell, his lips and your lips and an insatiable need to feel them, to feel him.  
Time slipped away until it was nothing but a never ending series of innumerable kisses. When you felt his tongue on your lips, begging for entrance, you let him in without hesitation or complicating thought. You could taste him, and it was weird because this sensation was brand new and yet soothingly, achingly familiar. It felt like possession, like you were his and he was yours, and you couldn’t stop, didn’t want to stop, because something deep inside you held you there like a vice. Some deep need for physical touch, for lips and breath and tongue and just to be his.  
And yet, despite all of this sensation, there was an almost alarming absence of thought. It was as if Raph’s tongue had sent all thoughts in your head running.  
When you finally stopped, when the world expanded exponentially and suddenly you were just 2 people on a planet with billions again, you looked into Raph’s eyes and all you could think was how beautiful they were, how beautiful he was. You wanted to say that but at the same time you didn’t want to speak and shatter the moment. So instead, when the moment slowly died down and you found yourself tucked closely into Raph’s arms with the film playing again, you turned your head and whispered close to his ear “You’re so beautiful”.  
Raph seemed a little shocked, he’d always believed that he would be considered hideous by most humans. You weren’t most humans.  
“Nowhere near as beautiful as you” he whispered back.


	22. He Gets Jealous

You and Raph had planned a date but you’d arrived at the lair a little early, while the turtles were still training. Fortunately for you, Casey was also there so you sat with him while you waited, eating cold pizza together.  
“So Y/N, what’s it like to kiss a turtle?” Casey asked with a smirk.  
“Why d’you wanna know, Jones? You interested in trying it? Got your eye on one of ‘em? Stay off Raph, but you and Mikey might be kinda cute”  
Casey spluttered, choking on his pizza. You patted his back until he could breathe again. “Hey I don’t swing that way!” he protested.  
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with it” you said.  
“Never said there was, I’m just not that kinda guy. I’m just curious, is all. I’m never sure just how human they are”  
“It’s scaly, and warm” was all you said “I dunno, it’s just like kissing a turtle, isn’t it”  
There was a pause before you grinned and threw him a side glance. “You sure you don’t have your eye on one of ‘em, Casey? I could drop in a good word for you”  
“Shut up” Casey said, giving you a playful shove.  
“Is that a yes?”  
“That’s a shell no! They’re like my bros, that’s just wrong” he yelled, shoving you again while you laughed.  
The turtles emerged from the dojo to find you and Casey laughing and playfully shoving each other. Three of them were glad to see the two of you getting alone, Raph saw things a little differently. He wanted you and Casey to get on, of course, but since you were about to go on a date you were dressed up a little and looking damn good and seeing you like that while play-fighting with Casey lit a spark in Raph that he needed to deal with.  
Walking over to you with purpose, he walked up behind you and dropped down onto the sofa, kissing you deeply and sliding his arms around your waist. You were a little taken aback but you kissed him back nevertheless, leaving Casey sat awkwardly next to you wondering how long you could possibly kiss for before you needed air.  
When Raph finally pulled away he asked “You ready for our date, princess?”  
It was pretty obvious to you that Raph had been jealous, so you decided to show him he had nothing to worry about. “Only if you kiss me again” you said and Raph gladly obliged.  
“Ready now” you said when you pulled away.  
“Great” he said, taking your hand as you stood up.  
“Enjoy the scaly kisses” Casey called after you as you walked off.  
“Screw you, Jones” you called back. As you left the lair you lowered your voice and muttered to Raph. “You don’t have any reason to be jealous, you know”  
“What? I wasn’t jealous!” he protested.  
“Pshh, whatever you say”  
“I wasn’t!”  
“Yeah you were”  
“Was not”  
“Were too” you said, grinning at Raph’s guilty face.  
“So what if I was?”  
“I’m just saying, you have nothing to worry about. I only have eyes for you”  
“Yeah but you were there looking all gorgeous and he’s him”  
“Oh come on, Casey would never even think about it. He knows you’d come for him if he did” you said with a smirk.  
“Damn right I would”


	23. You Get Jealous

It had become common for you to go straight to the lair after work to hang out there, it was better than going to your tiny flat and spending the evening in silence alone, and that was what you’d decided to do tonight. When you arrived you found Mikey watching the TV, sat cross-legged and far too close to the screen.  
“Hey Mikey, have you seen Raph?” you asked, throwing your bag down next to the sofa.  
“He’s in the dojo with April” Mikey told you before he started to yell something incomprehensible about the show he was watching. You left him to his gibberish and walked over to the entrance to the dojo, peeking in through the slightly open door.  
Raph was helping April with her stances, telling her where to put her arms and feet etc. You kinda liked seeing him like that, being responsible and experienced was a good look on him, so you watched for a little bit, a smile playing on your lips. However, when Raph put his hand on April’s waist to adjust her position you felt a small flame light inside you. Platonically helping her with stances was fine, but an animalistic part deep inside you was saying that he was absolutely not allowed to put his hand on another girl’s waist without you intervening.  
And so, you flung open the door and walked up to the two of them. “Hey” you said, sliding your hand up Raph’s arm and kissing him slowly before positioning yourself so close to his side that you were touching and intertwining your 5 fingers with his 3.  
“I guess it’s about time for us to stop today” Raph said, smirking and giving you a knowing glance. April stretched, glad to finally be allowed out of the demanding stances, and as the three of you left the dojo Raph whispered to you “Now who’s jealous?”  
“Jealous? Me?” you asked, dragging Raph’s arm around your waist.  
“You know, if you don’t like me hands on April’s waist, you could always start training too. Then I’d have to spend all my time adjusting your stances”  
“Actually, that’s not a bad idea. I kinda like the idea of being a ninja” you said with a grin.  
“I’ll ask sensei then”  
“Great. But until then, your hands are mine”


	24. Kidnapped

You hadn’t gone straight over to the lair from work tonight, you and Raph were going on a date later so you were going home to get changed before you headed there. You’d nearly made it home, were only round the corner from your apartment building, when the unmistakable feeling of being watched stopped you in your tracks. Looking around you couldn’t see anyone but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. You started to run.  
When you rounded the corner there was a flurry of black and red before something hit you in the stomach, doubling you over. You didn’t have a chance to phone Raph for help, you didn’t even have a chance to yell, before another blow hit your head from behind and everything blurred and went black.

 

Raph had been worried when you were 10 minutes late, when you were 20 minutes late he was really worried, when you didn’t answer your phone he started to feel sick. You were now 45 minutes late and no one had been able to contact you and Raph was full on panicking.  
“I’m going to her place” he announced, grabbing his sai and heading off towards the exit.  
“Not alone you’re not” Leo said “if, and I would like you to notice the word if, something has happened, then you shouldn’t go alone. We’ll all go”  
Raph just nodded and set off running, expecting the others to keep up. They ran with him all the way to the roof opposite yours but stopped Raph from barging straight in there.  
“Raph, wait!” Leo said, grabbing his brother “we’re going to think about this. Look before you leap”  
“The street’s empty, Leo. There, I looked, now I’m going” he snapped and leapt over to your roof, climbing down the fire escape, immediately followed by Donnie and Mikey. Leo sighed, wondering to himself if being leader meant anything, before following.  
Raph knocked on your window but there was no reply. He rang your phone and they all listened for your ringtone but there was nothing.  
The window wasn’t locked, just closed, so Leo managed to slide his katana into the small gap between the window and the frame, levering it open. It didn’t take long for them to search the small flat.  
“Her work clothes aren’t here” Raph said, coming out of your bedroom “she always changes out of them when she gets home”  
“Then she never got home” Leo said grimly.  
“If her phone’s on, I should be able to track it, find out where she is” Donnie suggested. The others glared at him in a ‘why didn’t you say that before?!’ way, which was all the reply Donnie needed. A few minutes later a small dot on the map on Donnie’s phone lit up. “Got her!” he cried triumphantly. “She’s in a warehouse a couple of blocks from here”  
“What’s she doing there?” Mikey asked.  
“I don’t think she’s there voluntarily, Mikey” Leo said. Raph glanced at the map and was already climbing out of the window.  
“What the hell are we waiting for?” he growled at them “We gotta go get her” and then he was off. The others didn’t stop him until he was staring at the warehouse from across the street.  
“Raph, wait!” Leo commanded. Raph glared at him.  
“For what?”  
“We need to think about this, we need a plan”  
“I have a plan: find my girlfriend and pound whoever took her into the ground” he snarled before running off.  
“I like that plan” Mikey said, following him. Leo looked at Donnie who shrugged.  
“I guess that’s the plan” Donnie said.  
“I guess so”

 

You came around slowly, gradually becoming aware of roped tied tightly around your hands, suspended above your head so that your feet only just touched the ground. There was pain emanating from several different spots on your body which suggested that your kidnappers hadn’t exactly been gentle when they transported you here.  
“Wake up, pretty girl” a Brazilian voice said and then someone slapped you in the face, dragging you harshly to consciousness.  
When you opened your eyes you were faced with a large purple fish with robotic legs and an enormous, black dog-type thing.  
“Man, you two didn’t do well in the mutation thing” you mumbled, that earned you another slap from the fish man.  
“That’s enough, Xever” barked the dog man, presumably Chris Bradford, although Raph had told you they called him Rahzar.  
“What’s your name?” Rahzar asked.  
“None of your business”  
“Now that’s not very cooperative”  
“You kidnapped me!”  
“That’s true enough” Xever, or rather Fishface, said.  
“Alright, enough with the pleasantries. We know that you know the turtles”  
“What turtles?” you asked.  
“Don’t play innocent with me! We’ve seen you kissing Raphael, although God knows why you’d wanna be with someone as ugly as him”  
“You can’t talk, you ugly mutt. Raph’s a thousand times better than you!” you yelled, struggling against the ropes.  
“You’ve given yourself away now, sweetheart. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way, so I’m gonna ask you questions and you’re gonna tell me the answers, or I’m gonna hurt you” Rahzar said. “Where are the turtles?”  
“Like I’d tell you”  
That earned you a kick from Fishface’s robotic legs, which sent you swinging and scrabbling with your feet to try and stop yourself swinging.  
“Oh man, that’s gonna bruise bad” you muttered.  
“Where are the turtles?”  
“Fuck. You!” you screamed. That earned you a punch to the face from Rahzar.  
“Go on sweetheart, keep resisting, please. I could do with something to take my anger out on. Now where are the turtles?”  
“Why are you so interested? Do you fancy one of them as well? ‘Cause I don’t think you’re really any of their types”  
That one earned you a punch and then a kick. You were pretty sure you heard a crack as the kick hit, that may have just been your imagination but the stabbing pain in your chest seemed to indicate otherwise. “Bye bye uncracked ribs” you muttered.  
“How about we try a different approach” Fishface said but whatever that approach was you never found out as your attention was caught by a slight movement behind Fishface and Rahzar, followed by a flash of green.  
A punch told you that you really should have been paying attention. The room started to spin a little and you shook your head to clear it. While you were disoriented you missed something else they said to you, earning you a blow to the legs this time.  
“Are we boring you?” Fishface asked, kicking your legs again.  
“Not at all, I was just admiring the beautiful architecture of this glorious shit hole” you said, although it didn’t quite come out as clearly as you would’ve liked because your face was starting to bruise and swell.  
“I’m only going to ask one more time” Rahzar growled “Where. Are. The turtles”  
You deliberately mumbled your answer so that the 2 mutants leaned in closer to hear.  
“What did you say?” Fishface asked.  
“I said, they’re behind you” you said, with as much of a smirk as you could manage. Fishface and Rahzar didn’t get a chance to react before 4 mutant ninja turtles came flying at them. Within seconds they were both lying on the ground, unconscious and in negative states of health.  
You were struggling to keep your eyes open now but you were aware of Raph’s voice.  
“Y/N? Y/N? Try and stay awake, princess”  
“Raph”  
Arms went around you and the rope above you was cut. You fell into Raph’s embrace, unable even to cry out when your weight was transferred to your battered legs and the cramp hit your shoulders. Raph scooped you up and held you close, carrying you away as you slowly slipped from consciousness.


	25. Back At The Lair

When you woke up this time you weren’t tied up in a warehouse, you were lying on the bed in Donnie’s lab, covered in bandages and with a soft blanket draped over you.  
You heard a voice say your name and in your state of half-consciousness it took you a moment to identify it as Donnie’s. There was another voice now.  
“Princess? Open your eyes, babe” Raph said, and even your sleepy mind could hear the desperation and worry in his voice.  
“Raph” you whispered.  
“Yeah?”  
“I have the worst headache ever” you muttered, finally opening your eyes.  
“I’m not surprised” Donnie said “from the looks of things, you took quite the beating”  
You moved slightly and grimaced as pretty much your whole body protested. “You can say that again” you said. Raph put his arms around you and slowly and gently helped you to sit up while Donnie told the others you were awake.  
Mikey came running in and threw his arms around you, trying to be gentle but still wanting to hug you. Leo stood behind him.  
“How are you feeling?” Leo asked.  
“Everything hurts and I was kidnapped by a giant fish man and a giant dog man. How would you be?”  
“If it’s any consolation, I think Fishface and Rahzar might be feeling worse after what we did to them” Mikey said.  
“Yeah, no one kidnaps my girl and gets away with it” Raph said, leaning over and kissing your forehead.  
“Thanks guys, I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t shown up”  
“You don’t need to thank us, you’re one of us, you’re family” Leo said and the others nodded.  
“Well I’m still grateful”  
“How did they know you knew us?” Donnie asked.  
“They said they’d seen me and Raph together. They ambushed me outside my flat and knocked me out”  
“If they know where you live, you can’t go back there” Leo said. You just nodded.  
“You could live here” Raph said quietly. Everyone looked at him.  
“Really?” you asked.  
“It’s our fault you’re in danger. We have a spare room, and it would be kinda nice to have you around all the time”  
You smiled. “If that’s ok, then I’d love to”  
Leo went to ask Master Splinter about it and Donnie ushered Mikey out, saying that you needed to rest, leaving you and Raph alone.  
Raph took your hand and looked at you. “When we arrived at that warehouse and I saw what they’d done to you… when I was carrying you back here and you were out cold, I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared”  
“I’m ok though”  
Raph looked at you, bruised and broken. “You nearly weren’t, and it’s because of me. They hurt you because you’re with me. I’m sorry”  
You reached out and held his face in your hands, trying not to show the pain the movement caused you, forcing him to meet your gaze. “Hey, it’s not your fault. You rescued me, you didn’t hurt me, they did”  
“Because you’re with me”  
“I don’t care about that. I’d rather be living this life with you than a boring normal one any day. You’re worth a little pain, Raph, and I’d do anything for you. Please, please don’t feel guilty, because that means you feel guilty for being with me and being with you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me so don’t you dare apologise for it. Now you better put your arms around me before I start crying” you said. You were tired and in pain and all you wanted right now was him, so when Raph did as you told him you closed your eyes.  
“You’re so important to me” he whispered into your hair “and I don’t ever wanna lose you”  
“It’s ok, Raph, ‘cause I’m not going anywhere”


	26. Affection When The Others Can See

With Donnie’s skillful care and Raph’s fussing, you started to heal quickly. You were still kind of sore but you were moving freely around the lair and had even ventured out a couple of times to lead the effort to pack up your belongings and bring them to the lair. Your month’s lease ended soon so it had been decided it would be best to just move all of your stuff now, not that you had much to move.  
Master Splinter had happily agreed to let you move in, he said it was because you were only in danger because of them and so it was only right for them to offer you somewhere safe to stay, but really he liked you and thought that your presence in the lair would be good for everyone. As for you and Raph, you’d taken the move in your stride, you’d decided that this changed nothing between you and were just enjoying the opportunity to see even more of each other.  
Movie night had become a regular thing, too. It seemed that Raph’s woeful lack of knowledge when it came to popular culture was matched by his brothers and so you had embarked upon a mission to educate them about films, music, TV etc. Leo’s love of Space Heroes was a start, but you were determined to introduce them to more decent TV and get them away from poorly dubbed anime and Crognard the Barbarian.  
It was during the second of these movie nights that Raph, whose arm was already around you, pulled you closer to him and stretched out his legs so that you could twist yours in with his. This was a little surprising to you as Raph was rarely like this around his brothers, but you living in the lair had made Raph realise that he could be openly like this even around his brothers, it made you happy and he had to admit that he liked it too. You ended up pretty much lying on top of him and when Mikey looked around he saw the 2 of you tangled up in one big mess of limbs, busily kissing.  
“Ewwwww guys, this is a public space” he complained, throwing popcorn at you in the hope of making you stop. You stopped for long enough to eat the popcorn, and then continued. “Leo, make them stop” Mikey complained.  
Leo was looking at you with his nose wrinkled “I don’t think it’s possible Mikey, we just have to accept that Raph and Y/N have merged into one being now”  
2 cushions flew straight through the air, one aimed at Leo’s head and the other at Mikey’s, both making solid impact, and to everyone’s surprise it hadn’t come from Raph but from you.  
“That’s my girl” Raph said, kissing you again.


	27. Date Night In The Lair

Now that you were living in the lair the danger was that the romance between you and Raph would fade, Raphael was not going to let that happen. Despite the fact that you were now living with him and his family in a sewer, he was determined to still find ways to be romantic.  
You’d gone back to work today, finally recovered and determined to continue working and bringing in money. Maybe it was because you wanted to keep earning money so that you could help make things a little easier for the guys, buying stuff they couldn’t scavenge, or maybe it was that work was a small part of normality left in your life and it felt good to be in touch with the real world. Whatever the reason, you’d returned to working at the shop, using the sewers to get there to decrease the chances of you being seen by unfriendly eyes.  
Raph had used you being out of the lair for the day as a chance to plan a date. He’d convinced Mikey to help him to cook you a nice dinner, although the ever-enthusiastic Mikey didn’t need much persuasion, he was just happy to be a part of a plan he knew would make ‘Dudette’ smile. Raph had also managed to ensure that the two of you would be left alone for the evening, using a combination of threats and more threats to get the others to agree to keeping out of the kitchen, Mikey had even agreed to take Ice Cream Kitty out of the freezer and put him in the cool box.  
When you got home you went straight to your room to change out of your work clothes, where you found a note on your bed.

‘Princess  
Tonight is date night. Change out of your work clothes, stay here, I’ll come for you soon (don’t worry, we’re not going far).  
Raph xxx’

Smiling, you changed quickly and sat on the edge of your bed, waiting. Raph didn’t keep you waiting long, announcing his presence with a knock on the door, looking you up and down and whistling.  
“Looking good, princess”  
“Thanks” you said “So where are we going?”  
“Oh it’s a very fancy place, it’s called ‘Chez Hamato’”  
“Chez Hamato? So it’s here”  
“Don’t be too hasty to judge” Raph said with a secret smile.  
When you reached the kitchen you found it lit entirely by candlelight, 2 plates of food on the table with covers over them to keep them warm.  
“Raph, did you cook?” you asked as he pulled your chair back for you and you sat down.  
“Tried to, had to get Mikey’s help, but yeah”  
You smiled to yourself at the idea of Raph actually going to Mikey and asking for help, but didn’t say anything.  
The food was really good, and when you enthusiastically told Raph that he actually blushed.  
“Yeah well it was your first day back at work, so I thought you deserved a nice way to unwind. How did work go, anyway?”  
You almost visibly swooned. He was being so sweet and you could barely take it. He let you tell him all about work, he listened while you complained and seemed suitably annoyed when you told him about the annoying things your coworkers had done.  
The candles slowly burnt down and you were still talking. Eventually you started to pick up the desert dishes and put them on the side, but Raph stopped you by silently placing a hand on your arm. He leant over to the iPod speakers on the counter, and only now did you notice your iPod plugged into them. Raph pushed play and your favourite romantic song came on.  
“What’s this?” you asked, smiling.  
“This is dancing” he said, turning the volume up and leading you out of the kitchen to somewhere with a little more space.  
“Since when do you dance?”  
“Since I found a girl I wanna dance with” Raph replied, taking one of your hands in his and putting the other arm around your waist.  
Raph probably wouldn’t have been quite so open about dancing if he’d known that his 3 brothers and father were all peering out of the ever so slightly open door to the dojo and watching. They wanted to find this in some way funny, or at least the turtles did, but the truth was they were just happy to see Raph had found someone he really cared about. It was about damn time that he found out what it felt like to be simply and entirely happy.


	28. That Time Of The Month

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, in case you didn't work it out from the title, this is a period chapter. I based this off my own periods and what I find the worst is the emotions (seriously, I go from Raph levels of angry to absolutely miserable in an instant for no reason, I'm a nightmare to be around) and I cannot survive without chocolate, the darker the better, so that's what this'll be like.  
> Feel free to tell me what you hate the most about periods, I might do another one of these chapters later but focus on something different. I just find the idea of the turtles having to deal with stuff like this absolutely hilarious.  
> Hope you enjoy!  
> :-):-)

When Mikey came to join you watching TV he didn’t expect to find you sobbing your eyes out during an ad break.  
“Y/N, what’s wrong?” he asked, sitting down next to you, concerned. You just pointed at the TV, where Mikey could see the end of an advert for dog food.  
“What?”  
“The advert. It’s so sad” you sobbed, clutching at a cushion. As far as Mikey knew, the advert wasn’t sad at all.  
“That dog food advert?” he asked. You nodded. “That’s what’s making you sad? Dudette it’s just an advert, it isn’t even sad” he said, absolutely clueless as to what to do.  
“How can you say that?” you sobbed “Have you not seen it? How can you say it’s not sad?!” you were momentarily angry and then you just started to cry more.  
Mikey was extremely confused and worried now. He didn’t know what to do so he decided to get someone who might be better qualified to deal with this “Stay here, I’m going to get Raph, ok?”  
You just nodded, burying your face in your cushion. Mikey ran off to get Raph, who was training with Leo.  
“Raph, I think you need to talk to Y/N” he said, running in.  
“Why?”  
“There’s something really wrong with her. I found her sat sobbing her eyes out at a dog food ad and when I tried to talk to her about it she got really angry and then just cried more”  
Raph ran passed the distressed Mikey and out of the dojo. Mikey was right, you looked absolutely distraught.  
“Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked, sitting next to you. Leo and Mikey had followed and were stood a short distance away.  
“There was this advert” you choked through sobs “and the dogs were so sad and… and…” you couldn’t finish before you just fell against Raph’s chest, crying.  
“Y/N, is this really about the advert? Or is something else wrong?” Raph asked. You sat up again, eyes flaming.  
“Yes this is about the advert!” you yelled “I’m not just projecting, you idiot. That’s so insensitive of you!” you shoved him a little. Raph was extremely confused and a little scared. You fell against him again and, at a loss for anything else to do, he put his arms around you. To his relief, you seemed to have stopped crying now.  
“Raph” you said quietly.  
“Yeah, princess”  
“Do we have any dark chocolate?”  
Raph looked up at Mikey and Leo, who were both as confused as him, and they shook their heads.  
“Um, no, don’t think so, babe”  
“Well is there anything chocolatey at all?” you asked, starting to get distressed again.  
Again, Raph looked to his brothers, and again, they shook their heads.  
“No, babe”  
“Well what good is that?!” you yelled, throwing your cushion across the room. Raph was just staring at you with wide, worried eyes now. His worry only increased when you groaned and doubled up.  
“Y/N! What’s wrong?” he asked.  
“I’m fine, it’s just cramps, hopefully it’ll stop soon” you said, missing the cushion you’d thrown.  
“Um, Y/N, are you sure you’re ok? You’re acting really weird” Raph said. You looked at him with a look that Raph was sure could probably kill, then you sighed and then you groaned.  
“Y/N?”  
“For God’s sake, Raph! I’m on my period!” you screamed. Raph blinked, clueless. He looked to Mikey and Leo, who both looked just as clueless as him. Then the door to the lab opened and Donnie, alerted by your yelling, emerged to save the day like some kind of knight in shining armour.  
Donnie took in the scene slowly – you on the sofa with a tearstained face, Raph sat beside you looking something close to terrified, his 2 other brothers stood close by looking completely lost and confused. The gears of his mind started turning, he already had a suspicion as to what was going on. Raph looked at Donnie with pleading eyes.  
Donnie turned his attention from his brothers to the girl in the room. “You ok, Y/N?” he asked gently.  
You nodded, “Yeah, it’s just, you know… that time…” you said tiredly. Donnie nodded and your heart rose.  
Donnie walked over to the sofa and grabbed Raph’s arm, pulling him up and away from the sofa. “If you haven’t already, feel free to put whatever you need in the bathroom. I think April keeps some stuff here anyway. I will deal with my brothers” he said and you nodded at him, smiling.  
“Thanks D”  
Raph was just following Donnie like a lost child. Donnie grabbed his other brothers and led them like ducklings into the lab.  
3 innocent turtles went into that lab, 3 haunted ones came out. Raph walked over to you with eyes very wide. In his head he held some very important instruction to do with behaviour, his and yours, and in his hands he held a bar of dark chocolate, a box of painkillers, and an incredibly soft blanket which Donnie had just magically produced from a cupboard like some guardian angel. He sat down next to you and offered you the goodies.  
“Thank you Donnie!” You yelled.  
“Anytime!” Donnie yelled back from inside his lab.  
“So…” Raph tried to say “I had no idea…”  
You laughed.  
“Every month…?” he asked.  
“Yeah, babe”  
“With the crying and screaming and stuff? And the pain?”  
“Not always, sometimes it’s fine, but usually it’s like that yeah”  
Raph was still reeling at his new knowledge and he couldn’t understand how it could ever be described as ‘fine’.  
“I’m so sorry, babe. I had no idea…” he said, with genuine sympathy in his voice “Do you… do you want a cuddle?”  
You smiled at him. “Yeah, Raph, that sounds nice”  
Raph draped the blanket over you and let you use him as a pillow while he played with your hair.  
“I’m sorry I yelled” you said quietly “I just get really upset and angry sometimes”  
“It’s alright, I understand. To be honest, I think I would be worse in your position”  
“Well let’s just be glad you’re not in my position” you said, giggling. Raph could only agree.


	29. First Fight

You were in your room when you heard raised voices, or rather raised voice, it seemed Raph had been arguing with Leo again. Hearing Raph yelling wasn’t exactly rare, normally he just needed to go and punch something for a while and you’d go and talk to him until he forgot his anger. You sighed, putting down the book you were reading and heading out to find out what was happening and hopefully stop your boyfriend from hurting someone or breaking something. You were just in time to see Raph storming out of the dojo, every muscle tensed in anger.  
“What’s going on?” you asked.  
“Nothing” Raph said through gritted teeth, heading towards his room. You followed him.  
“It’s clearly not nothing. What’s wrong?”  
Raph was silent.  
“Raph, babe, tell me what happened”  
“It’s none of your business, Y/N, just leave me alone!” Raph snapped. You felt anger starting to rise inside you, you just wanted to help and he was being a jerk!  
“In case you hadn’t noticed, Raph, I’m your girlfriend, so yes it is my business”  
“Just leave me alone, ok, please, for once just leave me alone. I don’t need you to hold my hand every time I get the least bit annoyed!”  
Raph said it so angrily that it stopped you in your tracks. “Fine” you said, turning around and heading off towards the dojo, maybe you’d get some answers from Leo.  
“Oh yeah that’s right, go and crawl off to fearless! Can you not just leave it alone for once, Y/N?” Raph yelled. That was it.  
“I am not crawling off to him, Raph! I’m not getting any sense out of you and you’ve made it very clear you don’t wanna see me so I thought I’d go and try and get his side of things. At least Leo might have something to say other than just yelling at me”  
“You’re always slinking off to see him when I get angry!”  
“I’m not slinking anywhere! And why do you care where I’m going? You don’t want me around you so why can’t I be around Leo? He’s my friend”  
“Oh great, someone else who thinks Leo’s bloody amazing. Why don’t you just go out with him instead of me if he’s so great?”  
“Because I don’t wanna be with him! I wanna be with you, you asshole! Although when you’re like this it makes me seriously wonder why”  
Raph’s anger faltered at that, but his face quickly set in angry lines again. “Well no one’s making ya stay” He snapped before disappearing into his room, slamming the door as hard as he could.  
In the silence that followed, your anger soon faded and you were left alone, stunned. Mikey, upon hearing the yelling end, poked his head out of his room just in time to see you running off.  
You ran to the sanest place in the lair, Donnie’s lab, slamming the door behind you and biting your lip to stop the tears. Donnie looked at you.  
“You ok? That sounded pretty heated”  
“What is wrong with him?” you asked, flinging yourself down in the wheely chair and burying your face in your hands.  
“He’s an angry jerk”  
“He’s not supposed to be like that with me” you said, starting to lose your battle against the tears. Donnie perched on the desk next to your chair.  
“You’ve made him better than he’s ever been before, you know, you’ve just gotta be patient with him”  
“It’s hard to be patient with him when he yells like that when I just wanna help” you said, finally letting the tears fall.  
“He doesn’t mean it. In half an hour he’s gonna calm down and realise what he’s done and you can lord the moral high ground over him”  
“What use is the moral high ground if he’s gonna be like that all the time?”  
“Not much use at all, but you can make him feel bad for what he’s done. You don’t know how hard he’s been working on his anger ever since he met you. Raph’s just a jerk sometimes. But he’s trying to change. Whatever happens you’re still the best thing that ever happened to him. He’ll remember that soon. And if he doesn’t, I’ll pound him ‘til he does. He’d be an idiot to do anything lose you”  
You smiled a little “Thanks, D”  
“Anytime. Wanna help me with this experiment?” Donnie asked, offering you a distraction “I could do with an extra pair of hands and you’re far more reliable than any of my brothers”  
You still felt shaken up and upset, but you smiled at Donnie and nodded a little. “Ok, if you say so”


	30. Apologies

Raph slammed the door to his room and set about kicking the hell out of his punching bag. In that moment he was angry with everything and everyone. Gradually the fire began to die down and for a split second he wondered why you hadn’t come to him like you usually did after he’d fought. Then he remembered what, in his blind fury, he had forgotten.  
The second he remembered what he’d said to you, he started running. Upon hearing the door open, Mikey peered out of his room.  
“Mikey, where’s Y/N?”  
“I dunno if she wants to see you, dude, you messed up pretty bad, she looked really upset”  
“Damnit Mikey, where is she?”  
“I’m not gonna tell you if you’re still angry. You’re not allowed to yell at her again”  
Raph took a deep breath and actually calmed down. “Sorry Mikey” he muttered, Mikey stared in shock. “I wanna make things better with her. Where is she?”  
“She’s in Donnie’s lab. But no yelling ok, or I’ll come for you. I’m not losing Dudette just ‘cause you can’t control your temper”  
“I don’t wanna lose her either” Raph muttered to himself, running towards the lab and knocking on the door.  
“Donnie? Donnie, is Y/N in there?”  
Donnie opened the door, his bo staff held causally in his hand in case he needed to fulfill his promise to beat Raph up.  
“Are you calm?” he asked.  
“Yeah, and I feel rotten”  
“Are you aware that Y/N is the best thing in your life and you are an idiot?”  
Raph nodded, looking at his feet. “Yeah, yeah I know”  
“Then you may enter” Donnie said, standing aside. You were sat on the desk chair and when Raph saw you he had to look away again. He walked over to you, still not quite meeting your gaze.  
“You’re a jerk” you said steadily.  
“I know. I’m the worst boyfriend ever and I absolutely don’t deserve you, but in case it matters, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you, you just wanted to help”  
“You’re right, you shouldn’t have”  
“Do you think it’s possible for you to forgive me?”  
“Look at me” you commanded and he finally raised his eyes to your face. Your expression softened. “You’re an idiot, Raph, but you’re my idiot. I forgive you. Now you better kiss me before I change my mind”  
Raph grinned and kissed you. “I don’t deserve you”  
“You’re damn right” you said, wrapping your arms round him and holding him close. “Now I don’t care what happened, I want you to go and apologise to Leo”  
“But-”  
“No buts. You are going to apologise to Leo, and not just because I said so but because he’s your brother and, no matter what you say, you’d be lost without him”  
“Fine”


	31. Blowing Off Steam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure how well this is written but I had excellent fun writing it so I hope you enjoy!

The atmosphere had been growing increasingly tense lately. There wasn’t really any particular reason for it, it was just that nothing much had happened recently and boredom had been setting in, causing tensions. You decided that this could not be allowed to continue.  
Instead of heading straight home from work like you usually did, you took a detour to purchase the necessary equipment for your plan, namely a quantity of water guns in varying sizes. You kept them hidden in a bag and slipped in passed the turtles, calling a brief greeting while you disappeared into your room to change. Once you were dressed in leggings and a t-shirt you texted Mikey ‘meet me in the bathroom and bring as many water balloons as you can. Tell no one’ before you grabbed the bag of weapons and slipped into the bathroom, filling up all the guns. You were only a little way through the task when there was a knock on the door.  
“Who is it?” you asked.  
“Mikey” Mikey replied.  
“Oh great, come in” you said, opening the door and dragging him in.  
“I brought all the balloons I have. What’s going on?”  
“Have you noticed how everyone’s seemed kinda stressed recently?”  
“Yeah, it’s ‘cause nothing’s happened in ages”  
“Well something’s about to happen. I bought as many water guns as I could get my hands on, we’re going to have a water fight”  
Mikey’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. “Yes!”  
“You need to fill up those balloons while I do the guns. Get going”  
It took the two of you a while but eventually you were done and you strolled out into the living room where April, Raph and Casey were. Raising your voice to as loud as it could go, you yelled “ATTENTION! ATTENTION!”  
Within a minute Leo, Donnie and even Master Splinter had emerged and everyone was asking what the hell was going on.  
“Quiet!” you commanded. Everyone shut up. “Now, things have been getting a little tense recently, and we need to blow off some steam. So”, you tipped up the bag of water guns and they spilled into a heap on the floor and Mikey placed down the bucket of water balloons he was carrying “I declare all-out war. Arm yourselves, I’ve set this timer for 5 minutes. When it goes off, the battle will begin. Be ready”  
Everyone fell on the weapons, well everyone except Splinter who walked back to his room with a smile. You had already acquired yourself a massive super-soaker and had attached several water-balloons to your belt. Raph walked up to you, wielding another very large water gun with a massive grin on his face.  
“I gotta hand it to you, princess, you might just be a genius”  
You grinned and kissed him “Damn right I am. You fancy being allied to the genius?”  
Raph bowed in front of you “I swore to protect you, my princess”  
“Great. Come on, we gotta find somewhere to hide before it starts” you said, grabbing his hand.  
Soon the lair had fallen eerily silent. You peered over the small wall at the entrance to the lair, next to the turnstiles, behind which you and Raph were concealed. You could just make out the egg-timer ticking away in the middle of the floor.  
10  
9  
8  
7  
6  
5  
4  
3  
2  
1  
‘Beep beep beep beep!’  
“ATTACK!” you screamed and the lair came alive. Heads and guns popped up all over the place, people trying to work out where everyone else was.  
Mikey was the first to attack. He combat rolled into the middle of the room and in one fluid movement he sent 2 long streams of water through the air from his twin pistols, hitting April and Leo and then getting Donnie with a water balloon. You and Raph popped up above the wall, both aiming your super-soakers at Mikey and soaking him, before ducking back behind the wall again.  
After this first flurry of movement, everything went quiet again. Mikey ran off to refill while Leo and April, who had somehow ended up as a team, ran off and repositioned themselves.  
“Donnie’s in his lab, Mikey’s in the bathroom, and I think Leo and April have the kitchen” you whispered.  
“Where’s Casey?” he whispered back.  
You peered over the wall briefly, ducking back down just in time to avoid the shot of water which sailed over your head.  
“Did you see him?”  
You nodded. “He’s sniping from the top of the lookout stairs”  
“Let’s take him down. You roll out to get a better angle on him, I’ll cover you” Raph said and you nodded.  
“3. 2. 1. Go” you whispered and on the word go you leapt over the wall, falling into a combat roll before running full-pelt over to underneath the stairs so Casey couldn’t get you. Raph kept Casey busy by shooting just above his head while you crept up the stairs as quietly as you could.  
“Dirty sniper!” you yelled as you reached the top, soaking him with a face full of water. Casey recovered quickly though and you had to make a hasty retreat, doing your best to dodge his shots and mostly succeeding. Casey, who was now out of water, ran off to reload.  
“Well done, babe” Raph said with a grin.  
“Excellent teamwork, I thought” you replied. At that moment you heard April’s high pitched screams echoing from somewhere near the bedrooms followed by Mikey’s cry of triumph.  
“I wanna go there, it seems like that’s where it’s all happening” You said and Raph nodded.  
“Ok, let’s move out”  
You ran, both completely forgetting Donnie in his lab, who leapt out and unloaded an entire pistol of water straight onto the both of you before running off with a cackle akin to that of an evil genius. While the two of you stood dripping in shock, April and Leo ran in, still engaging in their alliance but with cracks starting to show after a number of friendly fire incidents during their battle with Mikey and an encounter with Casey on their way to look for the two of you.  
You reacted quickly, hosing Leo down without hesitation. This marked the end of your water supply and you leapt for a nearby pool, distracting April and Leo with water balloons while you refilled. From your position on the floor, you noticed that Raph was looking pretty damn hot. He was dripping wet and holding a massive water gun, it was certainly a good look for him. As you ran back to join him to face April and Leo, who were now hiding in the recess where the sofa was, Raph had also noticed how you were looking. In your tight leggings and fairly tight t-shirt, both now soaking, your figure was showing off very well, and Raph was also appreciating the way you held your very large gun.  
There was a heated firefight between you and Raph and Leo and April, and every time Raph got hit with water he only looked more attractive to you. When Mikey rolled in, firing in all directions, and Casey and Donnie, now somehow in alliance, ran in screaming from the kitchen, April floored Casey with one shot as Donnie unleashed a barrage of water balloons on Leo before finally being sent running by Raph’s super-soaker. You, Raph, Leo and April now turned your guns on Mikey.  
“Awwww, you guys are teaming up! That’s not fair!” Mikey complained.  
Leo looked at April. “He’s right. It’s far more fun to make you all scream” he said before firing on April, who squealed before returning fire. You turned to Raph, leaning in to give him a quick kiss before smiling and saying.  
“Babe, I’m sorry, but you’re just too damn hot when you’re dripping wet” and with that you opened fire on him.  
“It’s alright babe” Raph said when you stopped “I was thinking the same thing” and he pointed his gun at you and covered you in water. That sparked everyone else to fall into a free-for-all. You ran away, pursued by Leo, and shut yourself in the bathroom to reload.  
When it was full you barged the door open, running full pelt away from Leo who’d been waiting for you and but was now engaged in a firefight with Donnie, the two of them now turned their attention to shooting you. You ran passed the kitchen just as Mikey was coming out. Before he had a chance to notice you, you opened fire, surprising him into dropping one of his two guns, which you grabbed before running off. A plan was starting to form in your mind.  
You slipped passed Casey, who had claimed the sofas as his territory, and you entered the dojo, pursued by Mikey, Leo, Donnie and now Casey. Upon entering the dojo, you found Raph and April in a vicious firefight. “Sensei, let me in!” you screamed running across the room and combat rolling through the small gap which opened up for you as Splinter slid the panel door to his room aside, sliding it closed behind you.  
“Y/N, you appear to be rather wet” he said with annoying calm, looking at you as you lay, panting, on his floor. You rolled over, crawling over to him.  
“Sensei, please, join me. You’re my only chance. If I go out there, they’ll probably drown me. Can you hear them, they’re savages”  
Splinter raised an eyebrow, listening to the sounds of screams and laughs as the fight continued. “Indeed, they do seem to have lost control of their good senses”  
“Together we can take them out, restore control, be victorious” you said. Master Splinter looked unconvinced. “I’ll let you use the big gun” you offered, holding it out to him. Splinter smiled.  
“Let us teach them a lesson they will not forget in a hurry” he said, accepting the super-soaker.

The others had quite forgotten about you and, after you went screaming into Splinter’s room, they’d turned on each other with relish. This was why it came as such a surprise when the door to Splinter’s room flew open and you rolled out, throwing the last of your water balloons among your friends and sending a stream of water straight at your boyfriend while Splinter emerged behind you, targeting each of his sons with powerful jets of water while you ran between them, grabbing their weapons while they were down, shooting April and Casey while Splinter, with almost magical speed and ease, disarmed them.  
You held your hand up for a high-five, which Splinter gave you.  
“And that, people, is how it is done” you said, spinning your gun in your hand.


	32. Decorating For Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Christmas is rapidly approaching and I love it so much! All the music and decorations, I live for it. Because of my growing excitement it is time for me to start posting Christmas themed updates. Let us begin!

It was nearly Christmas, your first with a real family in a long time, and you intended to do it right. The Hamato family had some decorations but not many and they were mostly broken to some extent. All that was about to change.  
When you and April walked into the lair with several massive bags interest quickly grew among the turtles. When Casey stumbled in behind you carrying a large box with a picture of a Christmas tree on the side interest quickly turned into excitement.  
“My dear mutants, it is Christmas time and we will be doing it properly” you announced, putting down your bags and revealing that they were full of decorations. The following cheer was enough to bring Splinter out to investigate. When he appeared he found the common room full of sparkly things being busily investigated by his sons, who were now all wearing either Christmas hats or fake deer antlers, even Raph.  
“What is all this?” he asked.  
“This, sensei, is Christmas” you said, walking over to him and wrapping some tinsel around his shoulders “we’re decorating the lair and you’re joining in” you said, taking his hand and dragging him towards a pile of holly branches “it can be your job to find places to put these all over the lair”  
Splinter did as he was told and he enlisted April’s help in doing so. Leo and Donnie were now arguing over how to put up the fake tree. You chucked Casey your iPod with the instruction to plug it into the speakers and play your Christmas playlist. You were forced to intervene with the tree’s construction when you saw that it was going nowhere. Donnie was reassigned to making sure the lights worked and weren’t tangled and Leo to help Mikey who had been given a large pile of cheesy wall decorations, table decorations, models etc. and told to go wild, while you and Raph built the tree. Once it was built it was all hands on deck covering it from head to toe in baubles, tinsel and lights.  
“What do we put on the top?” Leo asked, eyeing the bare upper reaches of the tree.  
“Well traditionally it’s a star or an angel” you said “but I’ve been working on our own special decoration”  
You ran off to your room and grabbed the item you’d been working on. It was a shuriken, sharpened edges dulled and with a cone soldered to it so it could be placed on a vertical branch.  
“It’s a ninja star for the top of a ninja family’s tree” you explained. This seemed to go down well, if the grins and praises were anything to go by.  
“What a wonderful idea, Y/N” Splinter said “And, as the newest member of our family, I vote that you should be the one to place it”  
There was a chorus of agreement and you blushed.  
There was one problem, you’d bought the biggest tree in the shop and you couldn’t reach the top. As you stretched on your tippy-toes you felt strong arms around your waist.  
“I got you, princess” Raph whispered in your ear and he picked you up, allowing you to slot the star perfectly onto the tree. Everyone cheered.

“What’s this stuff?” Mikey asked, pointing to a sprig of green leaves and white berries suspended from the lookout stairs.  
“That’s mistletoe” Donnie said.  
“You’ve always got to have mistletoe, it’s tradition” April explained.  
“I think you’re leaving out the most important aspect of the tradition” Splinter said with a smile, noticing how you were casually leading Raph over to the plant in question.  
“What?” Leo asked.  
You looked at Raph, wrapping your arms around his neck. “You kiss under it” you said with a smile before your lips connected with his. There was a chorus of “Ewww!” from the less mature in the room, not that either of you cared.


	33. Christmas Eve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I originally planned to post this on Xmas Eve but it just turned my birthday 28 minutes ago and I've updated whatever my main fic is on my birthday for the past 2 years so I don't see why this year should be any different. Enjoy!

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the lair not a mutant was stirring not even a rat.  
Well that’s not strictly true but I couldn’t resist. It was the night before Christmas but mutants were definitely stirring, the excitement in the air was extreme. Michelangelo was like a small child, running around and yelling excitedly, and you were just as bad.  
“Are you guys going to calm down anytime soon?” Donnie asked as you ran past him with Mikey chasing you and threatening to tickle you if he caught up.  
“But D! It’s Christmas Eve!” Mikey cried.  
You took advantage of his brief distraction to run to Raph at the punching bag and hide behind him. “You’ll protect me from Mikey’s tickling won’t you, my knight in shining armour”  
Raph raised his eyebrows at you. “Sorry, do I know you? You look like my girlfriend but you can’t be her, she’s a sensible and mature woman and you appear to be a child”  
“Oh come on Raph, it’s Christmas Eve!” you protested.  
“Exactly, there’s still hours until it’s Christmas”, Raph’s face had the look of someone who was very definitely trying to wind you up.  
“Oh. My. God” Leo said from his position by the TV.  
“What’s wrong?” everyone asked at once, or at least some variant on the question.  
“Look what’s on! It’s the Crognard Christmas special!”  
“Seriously?” you asked, eyebrow raised as all the other faces in the room lit up.  
“No way! There’s a Christmas special?” Mikey yelled, throwing himself at the TV.  
“Yeah, it looks like they did a feature length Christmas one” Leo confirmed.  
Raph ran to the TV, leaping onto the sofa. You were still confused as you wandered over.  
“This is what unites you? Really?” you asked, only to be ignored. “Guys?”  
They all simultaneously shushed you.  
“Oi!”  
This led to more shushing.  
“Raph!”  
Raph looked up and saw you pouting.  
“Awww, is the little baby feeling ignored?” he asked with a smirk.  
“Yes, as a matter of fact”  
Raph pulled you down onto his lap and started to rock you like a baby. “Well we can’t have that” he whispered.  
You wouldn’t have admitted it, but Crognard the Barbarian: Battle with the Grinch, as this special was called, actually engaged you. However, it did go on a while and towards the end your eyelids were starting to droop. You were vaguely aware of the end credits and strong arms wrapping around you, lifting you from the sofa and carrying you away. You were tucked lovingly into a bed that wasn’t your own, those same strong arms wrapping gently around you.  
“There goes midnight. Merry Christmas babe” Raph’s voice whispered in your ear.  
“Merry Christmas” you murmured back.


	34. Christmas Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When you woke up it took you a moment to remember what today was, but when you did you leapt out of Raph’s bed.  
“Y/N? What’s up?” Raph asked, still mostly asleep.  
“What do you mean ‘what’s up’? IT’S CHRISTMAS!”  
You threw yourself at him, kissing him until he was fully awake.  
“Alright, alright, I’m awake” he said, laughing.  
“Merry Christmas, Raph”  
“Merry Christmas”  
You dragged him out of bed and ran out of the room where you were met by Mikey.  
“Merry Christmas, Mikey!” you yelled.  
“Merry Christmas, Y/N!” he yelled back. Leo emerged from his room, still rubbing his eyes, and was immediately enveloped in a massive hug from you and Mikey. “Merry Christmas, Leo!” you both yelled.  
“Merry Christmas, guys” he laughed. Donnie emerged next and received the same hug before you grabbed Raph’s hand and set off downstairs after Mikey.  
Master Splinter was already awake, having heard the commotion upstairs. He was expecting excitement, he was not expecting the massive hug he got. 5 bodies barreled into him, the others being swept up in your and Mikey’s excitement and joining in.  
The pile of presents under the tree was tempting, oh man was it tempting, but breakfast was first. Mikey took control there, making an enormous pile of pancakes which you then cut into appropriate shapes and passed on to the table to be decorated by whoever was going to eat them.  
After breakfast you opened presents.  
If you’d been asked if you were pleased with your presents then you would probably have modestly replied that it wasn’t what was in the presents that mattered, but you certainly weren’t gonna say no to the Space Heroes t-shirt from Leo; the t-phone with new features even the turtles didn’t have from Donnie; the adorable turtle plushie from Mikey, and you especially weren’t going to turn down the delicate teardrop pendant with a tiny red gem that Raph got you. If you were honest though, the best present was the pair of tonfa, a weapon which you had started to show a preference for, that Master Splinter gave you. The turtles had also come together to get you a rucksack in the shape of a turtle shell, saying that now you could look just like them.

The rest of the day slipped by slowly, everyone helping to cook dinner which was a gargantuan meal and took about as long to eat as it did to make and even Mikey was full afterwards, although he insisted he wasn’t. After food you stumbled, almost crawled, to slump in front of the TV. You and Raph squished into the beanbag.  
“What are we watchin’ then?” Raph asked, his arm draped over your shoulders. You and Leo exchanged a look and Leo nodded.  
“Holiday Heroes” you said.  
“Holiday Heroes? Isn’t that the-?” Donnie began before being cut across by Leo.  
“It’s the Space Heroes Christmas special, yes”  
Raph looked at you. “Seriously, princess?”  
“Of course! Don’t even try to pretend you don’t like it too”  
“It has its ok moments, but you and fearless take it to a whole new level”  
“I like to consider it a healthy obsession” Leo said and you nodded. Raph sighed.  
“Alright, put whatever you want on, like I care”  
You kissed his cheek before snuggling into his side, tucking yourself securely into his embrace. Raph smiled at the soft touch of your warm lips on his cheek. Space Heroes wasn’t all that bad really, especially if it made you happy.

All over the world people were celebrating that day. They did it with their own personal traditions, little things which would mean nothing to other people but meant everything to those involved. That year was the start of a new tradition for the Hamato family, every Christmas Eve they would watch the Crognard Christmas special and every Christmas Day they watched Holiday Heroes and fell asleep in the living room. A lot of things changed over the years but that remained the same. One year the TV broke on Christmas Day but you and Leo stepped in and performed the whole of the episode from memory, enlisting the others to join in for smaller parts and even pulling together rudimentary costumes.  
But that first year you had no idea how important that first communal watching was, you didn’t even think about what might happen next year or the year after, you just watched the TV, occasionally whispering the lines along with the characters and causing Raph to laugh to himself. When it finished no one had the energy to move so you simply didn’t, letting Leo put on his favourite episode and one-by-one drifting off to sleep where you sat.  
You woke up a couple of hours later to find yourself in a darkened room, the TV nothing but static and the others draped over the furniture, having fallen asleep where they sat, even Splinter. You were still wrapped in Raph’s arms like a teddy bear but managed to use your toe to activate your phone which was on the floor in front of you, reading the time as 11:47.  
You smiled at the room of mutants. Last Christmas you’d had no idea that you’d even have a family in a year, let alone one like this one.  
“Merry Christmas, guys” you whispered to your unconscious companions, before closing your eyes and slipping back into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the Wiki for tonfa in case you're curious. Https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonfa  
> I wanted you to have a weapon not too dissimilar to sai but at the same time something that no one else in the show really uses. Also I think I would stand a far better chance of learning to use these than other weapons, I don't know about you.  
> Merry Christmas guys, I hope you have a good one!


	35. New Year's

The lair and the surrounding sewers were filled with loud music, but as the entire city was partying tonight no one had noticed the pounding beat drifting up through the sewers. It was New Year’s Eve and you were partying hard. You had to give it to the turtles, they knew how to party and you felt distinctly uncool when your dance moves were put against theirs, but no one seemed to care. A lot of pizza and sweets had been eaten, a lot of very fizzy drinks had been drunk, and the overall mood of the group was high.  
“Half an hour ‘til midnight guys!” Mikey announced.  
“Oh my god, we should go to times Square!” April cried.  
“Oh my god, yes, we have to do that!” you replied, matching her excited tone.  
No one needed much persuasion, in fact all it took was the mere suggestion.  
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Leo said.

The city was absolute madness and you could hear Times Square long before you saw it. The turtles led the way onto a building overlooking the square and you’d never seen so many people in one place before. If this was big to you, it was nothing compared to what it was to the turtles.  
“It’s a miracle they haven’t all crushed each other” Donnie remarked.  
Mikey was staring in utter awe. “Dudes, this is what life is meant to be!”  
There had been some amazing moments in your life, many of them in the past few months, and there would be so many more, but that New Year’s stayed with you forever. There is nothing like it, thousands upon thousands of people counting down to 10 together, looking into Raph’s eyes, both of your lips counting down the seconds. On 1 you kissed, with fireworks lighting up the sky and the entire city screaming Happy New Year.  
“Happy New Year” you whispered, your forehead pressed against his.  
“Happy New Year, princess”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	36. You Get Sick

You were cold, you’d been cold all day. Yes there was still the remnants of a winter chill in the air, but you’d been at work in a warm shop all day. Besides, this wasn’t like that, it was kind of shivery cold. You were tired too, but you’d been working, of course you were tired. It was probably nothing.  
You left work, waited until the coast was clear and slipped into the sewer. Slipped being the word because as you approached the bottom of the ladder the world started to spin a little and you fell the last short way. Somehow you reached the bottom unhurt but you were still dizzy and shaking your head only made things worse instead of clearing it so you just tried to ignore it. It was nothing really.  
When you eventually reached the lair, stumbling through the turnstiles instead of hopping over them like you normally did, the sound of your clumsy entrance alerted Raph, who was playing video games. While you were still in denial and convincing yourself you were fine, Raph saw a different story. He saw a pale face, drooping eyelids, body swaying and shivering all over.  
“Oh my god, Y/N! Are you ok?”  
“What? Yeah, I’m fine” you insisted, shrugging off Raph’s concern as he came over to you.  
“You sure? ‘Cause you don’t look too good”  
“I’m just a little tired, Raph, I’m fine” you snapped, brushing off his hand from where he’d placed it on your shoulder, even though you knew deep down that you needed the support it offered. You swayed a little on your feet and Raph watched as you eventually stabilised. “I’m fine” you murmured again but all merit your reassurances might have held went out of the window when you felt your stomach lurch and the absolute certainty that you were going to be sick. You set off running, making it to the bathroom just in time. Raph was right behind you. He leant next to you, rubbing your back until you were done.  
“What were you saying, babe?” he asked gently. You slumped against him, eyes closed as you felt exhaustion sweep over you.  
“I hate you” you muttered.  
“I know, I know” he said gently, still rubbing your back.  
Raph got a damp cloth and wiped your face, deciding not to tell you how hot it was. You let him clean you up without resisting but without really moving either, eyes still closed as you seriously considered just sleeping here on the bathroom floor, wedged between the toilet and your boyfriend. That done, Raph wrapped his arms around you and picked you up. As he carried you to your room he threw a death glare to Mikey and Leo who were about to start asking questions, shutting them up. You were barely awake but he helped you out of your clothes and into your PJs, making sure your room was lit only by a dimmed lamp and tucking you into your bed.  
“Stay awake, ok sweetheart, I’ll be back in a minute” he said, peeling your clingy but weak fingers from his wrist and disappearing. He came back a few minutes later with a bucket, a glass of water, a thermometer and some medicine that Donnie had given him when he’d described your symptoms to his brainiac brother. He took your temperature, texting it to Donnie who had wanted to bring the stuff himself but had been told in no uncertain terms that Raph would look after you. The medicine tasted awful and you pulled a face, refusing more.  
“I know it tastes bad, baby, but you gotta have another spoonful. Just one more”  
He looked at you sternly and you didn’t have the strength to do anything other than what you were told. You allowed yourself to be fed another disgusting mouthful before Raph put the medicine on your bedside table.  
“How do you feel?” he asked. You glared at him.  
“Tired. Sick. Dizzy. Cold”  
“You ain’t cold, babe, you’re burning”  
“Well I feel cold” you snapped. Raph nodded and then, after a moment of thought, he crawled into your bed with you, tucking you close into his body and stroking your hair. You relaxed into him.  
“Remember when we met?” he said, his voice quiet and tender and caring. Man was he glad his brothers couldn’t see this. “Who’d have thought that one chance meeting would lead to all of this, huh?”  
You didn’t hear anymore. You were vaguely aware that Raph was talking but what he said didn’t matter, his voice was enough to comfort you and lull you into a deep sleep.


	37. He Gets Sick

Something was clearly not right with Raph. You’d been training for a little over an hour and he did not look good. Concern as to his wellbeing had been expressed several times and by several people but Raph, being Raph, insisted he was fine and threw himself further into training. You and April were sparring while Raph was going against Donnie with Leo and Mikey fighting next to them. The taller brother was going fairly easy on Raph, his informed mind noticing several symptoms which indicated he was most definitely ill. But Raph was having none of it, doing his utmost to keep going at his usual level.  
When Splinter finally called an end to the sparring everyone breathed a sigh of relief, throwing concerned looks to Raph who looked like he was about to collapse. You went to kneel in the usual line but as Raph bent his leg it gave out beneath him and he fell to the floor.  
There was a universal cry of “Raph!” and his brothers and April crowded round him. You were straight on your feet, placing firm hands on the arms of the group around your boyfriend and quietly moving each of them aside to drop down next to Raph who was sat awkwardly on his knees looking completely drained. You placed a gentle hand on his forehead, registering the high temperature.  
“Your forehead’s on fire, Raph” you said quietly, only loud enough for him to hear “You’re ill, babe, and you’re going to rest now” your voice offered no argument and you put an arm around him, helping him to his feet and pulling his arm around your shoulders.  
“Raph’s a little tired, he just needs to rest” you told the group, and although they knew it was a lie they let you walk him out, preserving what was left of Raphael’s dignity. You took Raph to his room and sat him on his bed.  
“’m alright, y’know” he murmured.  
“I know” you said gently, helping him to take off his belt, kneepads etc.  
“Lay down, babe” you said, guiding him to lie down and dragging the blankets over him. “I’ll just be a moment, no going to sleep yet, ok”  
You slipped out of the room with the intention of going to the medicine cupboard to find something to help but as you closed the door you noticed Donnie was stood a couple of meters away holding a tray with several medicine bottles and jars and a jug of water and accompanying cup.  
“How is he?” he asked.  
“You saw him” you replied, moving away from the door so Raph couldn’t hear. “He’s just a little sick”  
Donnie nodded. “Well here’s some stuff you might need. Medicine to bring his temperature down, help him sleep etc. Oh and some advice from the last person who had to look after Raph when he was sick, don’t believe a word he says, he’ll say anything to convince you he’s fine. Oh and if he starts having fever dreams, be ready to duck some punches”  
“Noted. Thanks D, I’ll be down later, ok. Thanks”  
“Have fun”

You took the stuff and headed back into the darkened room. You sat down next to Raph on the bed, shoving a thermometer into his mouth before he could complain and raising your eyebrows at him when you read the small display and he insisted he was fine. “Sure you are, honey, I’m sure this thermometer is broken” you said without a hint of sarcasm showing in your voice, stroking his head gently. You gave him some medicine while he continued to insist he was fine and it wasn’t necessary. You continued to agree with him as you medicated him and slipped into the bed next to him, allowing his head to rest on your chest.  
“I’m not sick, Y/N, just tired, I’ll be up in time for pizza” he murmured sleepily as his eyes closed.  
“I know, Raph” you whispered, a finger gently stroking his cheek until he finally fell asleep.


	38. Something to Say

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi people!  
> I would really appreciate it if you read the note at the end because it concerns future content and I wouldn't want you to miss out on the chance to contribute.  
> Hope you enjoy the chapter :-):-)

Winter passed at its own pace, melting into spring almost imperceptibly slowly. And with spring you felt a change, not just in the weather but in Raph as well. It wasn’t anything you could put your finger on really, there was just something different. Sometimes you caught him looking at you, not at anything in particular and not with any apparent purpose, just looking. He’d know you’d caught him and would take a second, it looked like he was trying to make a decision, but then he’d just smile at you and shrug. If you asked what he was thinking he’d skirt around the question, never quite answering.  
One early spring evening you and Raph slipped out of the lair alone. You liked living in the lair, it was never boring and you enjoyed the feeling of belonging that you felt with the Hamato clan, but it was kinda hard to get good alone time so when Raph suggested the two of you watch the sunset together you were more than happy to agree.  
You perched yourselves on a rooftop, gazing out over the city. You were sat close to Raph, shoulders not quite touching but comfortably close. You were watching the distant horizon shift through various shades of orange and pink while the city below lit up and came alive. You and Raph were grinning, laughing at literally nothing, shoulders occasionally bumping.  
As your laughter died down the two of you went quiet. Not awkward quiet, not ‘I have nothing to say’ quiet, it was more ‘I don’t need to say anything to be having a nice time with you’ quiet. At least that was what it was for you, for Raph this was one of the most intense moments of his life. Every time he looked at you he thought of three words and it was a conscious effort not to blurt them out. He knew little of normal life and normal people relationships, but he knew that if he picked the wrong moment he could ruin everything. This, Raph decided, was not the wrong moment.  
You were lost in your thoughts, smiling slightly to yourself, when Raph broke the quiet.  
“I love you” Raph said. Your head whipped around, heart suddenly beating a thousand beats a minute. You weren’t sure if you’d heard him right. Raph stared into your shocked face with pure adoration in his eyes. He’d said it now and there was no going back.  
You still couldn’t form words. Raph shrugged a little. “It’s true” he said “I love you. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me. The most beautiful, perfect person I’ll ever know. You make me feel helpless, vulnerable, weak. You undermine everything I used to pride myself on being. You make me different, you make me better, and I’m in love with you for it”  
You stared at Raph, your entire body trembling as you tried to take it in. He looked back at you and you realised that, flawed as he is, you wouldn’t change at damn thing.  
But love? You barely knew the meaning of the word. How would you know what love felt like?  
Then, in one incredibly clear moment, it hit you.  
It hit you how you want to always be with him, how no one else would ever be enough for you because they wouldn’t be him. Now that you think about it, you notice that when you look at him there’s a fire inside you, burning maybe even since the moment you met him. You look at him and nothing else matters. He is yours and you are his and he’s still staring at you with those bright, wide eyes. You love him. Whatever love is this is it. This is love and life and beauty and so much more and most of all it’s him, it’s Raph.  
“I… I think I love you too” you stuttered. “More than that, I know it. I love you, Raph, and I do believe I always will”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> I hope you enjoyed that chapter.  
> I've been thinking about putting in some other ships recently but since this is a reader insert I thought I should ask the readers for their opinions as I wouldn't want to do anything that you really didn't like.  
> The main ones I've been turning over recently are April and Casey or Casey and Mikey because I always thought that might be quite funny. If I did do one then it would only be vaguely mentioned or eluded to, so what do you think?  
> Also if there are any other ships you really like the idea of being included then feel free to tell me and I'll consider them.  
> I wouldn't be writing them in for ages yet, if at all, so if you're reading this a while after it was published it may not be too late to contribute!  
> Same goes for any other suggestions you might have, feel free to suggest anything. This is a reader insert after all and I know the idea is basically to live out a fantasy (at least that's why I read them) so please don't hesitate to make any suggestions for something you would really like to see.  
> Thanks!


	39. This Is Bad

You and Raph were good together, you slotted together so perfectly that it might as well have always been the case. You could calm each other down and make the bad days seem good, you could ease each other’s fears and get each other to sleep on the nights when it seemed impossible. You really were a great couple.  
Most of the time.  
But sometimes everything in the world aligned exactly wrong. Sometimes you’d slept poorly and had a long day and Raph’s temper was especially short and you started to notice everything in the world that annoyed you. Sometimes Raph was feeling particularly superior and hostile and you were feeling particularly sarcastic and critical. Sometimes nothing interesting had happened for days and nothing seemed to be going right.  
Sometimes meant today.  
It took barely any provocation for the two of you to clash.  
You were playing pinball and punched the machine when you lost. “Would you mind not breaking the pinball machine Y/N, it’s the only one we’ve got” Raph remarked without even looking up from his comic. You glared daggers at him.  
“Oh like you can talk” you snapped.  
“What does that mean?” he replied, matching your tone and lowering his comic. You proceeded to do a pretty good impression of Raph playing pinball, hurling profanities and fists at the machine. Raph denied ever acting like that, you snorted derision.  
“Come on Y/N, use your words, we don’t need to communicate in animal noises” Raph said, his voice some awful mixture of patronising and rage.  
“Oh come on, you communicate almost entirely in grunts” you threw back, voice rising in volume. “Sometimes I can’t tell if my boyfriend is a turtle or a warthog”  
Raph’s eyes narrowed and he stood from his seat. His brothers were sat on the sofa, TV forgotten as they all practically held their breath. They could all see where this might lead.  
“Alright guys, calm down” Leo said cautiously.  
“Shut up, fearless” Raph snarled.  
“Leave Leo alone!” you snapped back.  
“You always have to pick his side, don’t you?”  
“I do not! I’m on your side far more often than you seem to realise!”  
“Am I supposed to thank you for that? I’m sorry but I was under the assumption that when you’re in a relationship with someone you’re supposed to be a team”  
There aren’t words to sufficiently describe what happened after that. Suffice to say the two of you clashed. Hard.  
The ensuing fight took you all around the lair; screaming, storming away, turning back, screaming as Raph stormed away until he turned back too. The others tried to stop you a few times but eventually realised the best thing was to hide until it was over.  
After a while neither of you could remember how it started and you weren’t really sure what you were fighting about but you were not backing down. The fight was about nothing and everything. It was about how he was always training; how you were always working; he suggested you flirted with other guys; you suggested he was being stupid and jealous; you thought he was too angry all the time; he thought you regretted being with a turtle; you accused Raph of only being with you for the bragging rights to his brothers; he accused you of only being with him out of sympathy and some sense of charity. The list went on.  
You screamed until you couldn’t anymore and eventually ended up in Raph’s room, you sat on his bed while he was stood in front of you, both of you still yelling. Your voice was suffering now and you were growing tired of all the yelling and so was Raph, so you switched to angry talking instead. At some point Raph started attacking the punching bag in the corner to stop himself from breaking something.  
“Is it impossible for you to go an hour without attacking something?” you snapped. Raph had no response so kept punching. “What the hell are we even fighting about?” you asked, slumping back on Raph’s pillows, exhausted.  
“How would I know? It’s your argument” Raph grumbled.  
“What the hell does that mean?” you barked back.  
“I haven’t done anything here”  
“Excuse me? What? You haven’t been a part of this, have you?”  
You were on your feet again now. You were not going to let him remove himself of blame. And so the arguing started up again. Now you were fighting about the fight itself, throwing blame around as well as petty insults.

 

Leo, Donnie, Mikey, Splinter and Ice Cream Kitty sat in the kitchen and listened to the sounds of yelling drifting from Raph’s room. They’d thought it was calming down when you’d stopped yelling a while back but that hadn’t lasted long. As long as they could still hear both of your voices they knew it was still very much a two-sided argument and it was safest to stay down here.  
“How can they still have stuff to yell about?” Mikey asked, resting his chin on the table.  
“You heard them before, they weren’t really making a lot of sense” Donnie replied.  
“I don’t think they’re really fighting about anything in particular, they’re just fighting” Leo said.  
The voices upstairs went ominously silent for a moment and everyone in the kitchen froze, ears straining for the next sound. Leo counted the seconds. One, two, three, four, five. Silence.  
The moment stretched on and still there was nothing. Each of them was privately beginning to hope that the fight was finally over, however the very sudden nature with which the silence had descended made it doubtful that what was happening up there was positive.  
Leo had reached 46 seconds when they finally heard something. A door slammed and then seconds later it slammed again, presumably one person leaving the room followed by the other. They could hear Raph’s voice calling to Y/N, asking what she was doing. The answer came back as a simple “What does it look like?” as the voices headed towards Y/N’s room.

“Are you serious, Y/N?” Raph called, his voice somewhere between angry and incredulous as he followed you into your room.  
“No, I thought now was the perfect time for a joke” you snapped back, extreme sarcasm lacing your words as you pulled a bag out from under your bed and started throwing basic items into it. You couldn’t face staying here tonight. Raph’s bitter, forced laugh came in reply.  
“I’m glad I amuse” you replied, scooping several pairs of underwear from a draw and a couple of spare outfits from the wardrobe. You didn’t even bother to close the bag, just pushed straight passed Raph and made a beeline for the turnstiles.  
“Fine, run away. I’ll still be here when you want to apologise”  
You felt the urge to turn around and scream at him, to point the finger at your partner and tell him every reason he needed to apologise. But you’d done the same thing several times today, as had Raph. Every time you’d thought things were calming down one of you would think of another reason to yell and you were tired of it. So you channeled that angry energy into walking faster, knowing that Raph was far too angry to actually try and stop you as you stormed through the turnstiles and down the tunnel.


	40. Still Bad

Everyone had expected you to come home the morning after the fight, maybe a bit later, but definitely within 24 hours of having left. When this didn’t happen they started texting you. Leo, Donnie and Mikey all sent texts asking where you were, if you were coming back and if you were ok. No response.  
Late on the night of your second day of absence Raph started to see through the anger and realise that he might have really screwed up. Even so, it wasn’t until early afternoon on the third day since the fight that he texted you.  
‘When are you coming home, babe?’  
3 hours later he texted again. ‘This isn’t fixing anything’  
30 minutes after that he let his cold, harsh front slip a little and texted ‘Come home’  
Several hours later, as the clocks turned to midnight, he sent another text. This one was the shortest yet, and the most open and honest. ‘Please’

 

The next morning a figure slipped into the lair while the turtles were training with Master Splinter. I would say it was lucky they came in when no one would notice but luck had nothing to do with it, they knew exactly when the boys would be busy. The figure slipped into the bedroom which had been empty for the past 3 nights, left a bag on the bed and then went to the dojo.  
Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing when the door to the dojo opened. There was a pause before whoever it was came in but there was only one person it could be and they all knew it.  
No one said anything when you walked in, head bowed in shame, they were waiting for either you or Raph to speak.  
“Hi” you managed to say, only able to force that one syllable past the lump in your throat.  
Raph stared at you, his eyes tearing you apart. He showed a complex combination of joy, embarrassment and betrayal on his face and if you hadn’t seen it for yourself you wouldn’t have believed it possible to convey that amount of emotion with just one expression.  
The moment after your brief greeting stretched on longer than anyone there would have wanted. Eventually you found your voice again.  
“Raph, can we talk?”  
Raph nodded slightly, eyes connecting with yours. “I think that’s a good idea”  
He glanced to splinter, who nodded his head once to give his silent permission and Raph followed you out of the room. You headed to the kitchen, this conversation seemed to require neutral ground.  
You and Raph eyed each other for a while, neither of you really sure where to begin.  
“I’m so sorry, Raph” you said, unable to meet his eyes while you said it. Then you realised that Raph had spoken at the exact same time as you, also apologising. This double apology broke the tension in the room and you allowed yourself a shaky laugh.  
“This is a mess, isn’t it” you said. Raph was looking at you, carefully forming what he was going to say in his head.  
“You can say that again. You were gone too long”  
“I know. I’m sorry, Raph” you said, voice breaking a little.  
“Where were you?” he asked, a slightly cold note slipping into his voice as he tried to decide which of the many emotions he felt he was going with.  
“April’s place, sleeping on her sofa”  
“Why didn’t you come home?”  
“I couldn’t face it. I had a lot of thinking to do”  
“I wanted to talk to you, Y/N, I had things I wanted to say”  
You didn’t have an answer to that, Raph’s eyes were crushing you as they stared into yours, giving away all the pain he didn’t want to show.  
“I wanted to try and fix things but you weren’t there”  
“I’m sorry”  
“No one heard anything from you, Y/N. For all we knew you were hurt. For all we knew you’d been attacked and were bleeding in a gutter or you’d been kidnapped again. All this thinking you had to do and you didn’t think of that? I don’t care that you didn’t talk to me but my brothers think of you as family too and you let them worry”  
“I didn’t think of that. I…”  
Raph saw you closing up again, losing the will to talk as he let his pain turn to anger like he always did. He took a breath and relaxed his muscles. “I missed you. I wanted to tell you I was sorry. We said so many awful things but I was blinded by my anger, I didn’t mean most of what I said. I don’t want to fight with you, Y/N, I’m madly in love with you. I’ve been trying so hard to control my anger since I met you but I can’t always manage it and it’s you who suffers. I’m sorry. Do you think you could possibly forgive me?”  
You looked stunned. “Me forgive you? Raph of course I forgive you. I’m the one who needs to beg forgiveness”  
“Well it looks like we forgive each other then” Raph said and you took that as your cue to throw yourself at him, hugging him tightly. He wrapped his arms around you for a moment and then pulled away. “What was all this thinking you were doing then?”  
You hopped up onto the worktop and Raph sat next to you. “When I left I really only meant to spend that night away. I ran straight to April’s and broke down in tears and told her everything. But that night I couldn’t sleep. My mind started whirring round and thinking about everything. It was about when I said I loved you. I really meant it and fighting like that made me realise who it is I’m in love with. You’re a hothead vigilante mutant turtle. What the fuck even is that? I love you and I never want to leave you and that is terrifying because it means that everything I ever thought about my future has changed”  
“And is that a bad thing?”  
“I thought so, but over the past couple of days I realised that it’s not. That’s why I came back. I realised that I don’t want a normal life with a normal future and normal plans. I want you. I want this life. I want to live in our own secret world and have water fights and fight alien robots and save the damn world. And I want to do it with you. I’m so sorry for disappearing and I’m so sorry for doubting and for god sake please just kiss me before I say anything else I regret”  
Raph did as you asked. He put a hand behind your head and took one of your hands in his other, determined to show to you in this one kiss just how much he loved you and prove to you that it was ok. When he eventually pulled away he rested his forehead on yours. “You are, without a doubt, the greatest thing in my life and I promise I will do everything in my power to make the rest of your life as good as it can be”  
“I love you, Raph” you whispered, closing your eyes and relishing the feeling of your skin on his.  
“I love you too, Y/N. Goddamn I love you so much”


	41. Games Evening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikey declares himself to be bored and Raph decides to get everyone drunk. This should go well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last couple of chapters were kinda serious so this one's a fun one. I have to warn you, if I remember correctly I was kinda drunk when I wrote this and it is pretty long compared to what I normally post so I'm not sure just how well it all holds together, but hopefully it'll make you smile and maybe a laugh a bit.  
> Enjoy!

Things in the lair quickly returned to normal. You and Raph became, in a word, insufferable. The fight had shaken you both to the core and as such you were now more obsessed with each other than ever. It was nice.  
One evening, Mikey decided he was bored and none of his usual recreations would be any good. Whenever Mikey declared himself to be bored the inhabitants of the lair knew they were in for an eventful evening as he desperately tried to entertain himself. This evening he had walked into the middle of the common room and made such a declaration.  
Everyone else had been perfectly content to continue doing very little but Mikey very quickly grew intensely irritating with his whining and you sighed and gave in.  
“Why don’t we play a game then?”  
Mikey’s face it up. “Like what?”  
“I dunno. A board game?”  
“YES. What?”  
“Oh god I dunno, I’ll see what we have” you replied, trying to get up from the beanbag where you were sat with Raph but your boyfriend wouldn’t let you go. “Let go, Raph, I gotta go find some games”  
“No you don’t, you don’t need to pander to Mikey”  
“Oh come on, it’ll be fun” you said, finally freeing yourself. As you headed off to your bedroom Raph got up, heading for the kitchen and grumbling that “If I’m gonna do this I’m gonna need a drink”  
You returned with a few games to choose from and found a dubious looking Leo and Donnie sat on the floor, having been dragged into this by Mikey. Raph had opened a beer for himself, having brought a pack from the kitchen. He’d been through enough game evenings with Mikey to know that drink would be needed.  
“Alright what are we starting with?” Donnie asked, slightly dubiously. He wasn’t entirely sure if another games evening was a good idea.  
“Let’s start off simple, snakes and ladders” you declared taking it from the pile.  
“Yess” Leo hissed to himself. You raised your eyebrows at him. “I’m the best at snakes and ladders” he explained.  
“Leo, no one is the best at snakes and ladders” Raph stated “it’s a game of luck and no skill”  
Leo shrugged. “If you say so”  
Snakes and ladders is a game of luck, but Leo still handed your asses to you, delivering an undeniable victory.  
“You really are good at snakes ad ladders” you said to Leo, staring at him like he was some kind of wizard.  
“What can I say, some of us are just gifted” he replied.  
“What are we playing next?” Mikey asked, destroying your careful pile of games as he sifted through them.  
“If we really have to do this then I want to play scrabble” Donnie declared, taking said game out of Mikey’s discarded pile.  
“Oh come on D! If we play that you’ll win for sure!” Mikey whined.  
“Exactly”  
“No can do, Donnie. Scrabble’s for 4, there’s 5 of us” Leo said.  
“I propose we do teams. Me and Raph, Leo and Mikey and then D on his own”, that was you.  
Donnie would have complained, but he knew he could still win. “Alright. It’s your funeral”  
Without a word Raph handed you a beer, cap already removed.  
The scrabble was not a contest. Donnie won, you and Raph came 2nd (not a close 2nd, but close compared to how far behind Leo and Mikey were).  
Donnie was not-so-humbly celebrating his victory when April and Casey strolled into the lair. Little did they know that they were strolling into a war that they would not escape until so late that night it was technically morning.  
“What are you guys up to?” Casey asked, eyeing the half-empty bottles in your and Leo’s hands and the two empty bottles lined up next to Raph.  
“It’s games night” you informed them.  
“Oooh yes” April cried, coming over to sit in the space you’d cleared for her and Casey.  
“Seriously? How old are you guys?” Casey asked, taking his space beside April despite his apparent disapproval.  
“Hey, it’s games night with booze” you countered, offering him a beer which he gladly took.  
“What are we playing?” April asked, also accepting a drink.  
“Well we just finished scrabble, so you can choose the next game if you like” Leo told her. April scanned the stack of games before locking on one.  
“Let’s play Monopoly”  
“Nope. No way. No. Bad idea”, that was you.  
“Come on, Y/N, it’ll be fun”, April laughed at you.  
“Yeah come on Dudette, why not?” Mikey asked, his eyes all wide innocence.  
“Have you ever played Monopoly, Mikey?” you asked. He nodded. “And how did it end?”  
“It didn’t” Raph muttered by your ear. You looked at him, not even needing to voice the question. “We fought 10 minutes in and never finished the game”  
“Ah”  
“Well I still think we should do this” April said, grabbing the box and starting to set up.  
Raph handed you another beer. You pointed to the half-full bottle you still held. He just took the end of your bottle and brought it to your mouth, tipping it up so you were drinking. “If we’re playing Monopoly you’re gonna need it” he informed you.  
15 minutes in an argument started but Raph, possibly for the first time in his life, was the one who stopped it. Granted, he did it in a very Raph way. As Leo and Mikey started to get a bit confrontational he started to open up bottles for everyone who didn’t currently have something alcoholic on the go and thrust them at people.  
“No fighting. Everybody drink” he shouted over the raised voices of everyone as people started to join in. The authoritative tone in his voice offered no argument and everyone did as they were told. Once everyone had taken a gulp the game continued.  
The next 5 arguments were solved in the same way and by the time the game finally finished everyone in the circle was, at best, tipsy. You were lying on the floor, head resting on Raph’s leg as he reclined on the beanbag. You and he had gone through several cycles of engaged to bored to interested again and, during your bored periods, you had to be forced to continue several times as the alcohol took effect and you became more and more interested in each other. When the game ended and Casey was declared unlikely winner you launched yourself at the game you’d been eyeing for the past 37 minutes.  
“I choose next” you declared, scrambling across the floor as April broke down in a spontaneous fit of giggles and Mikey decided he would try and see just how far he could stick his tongue out while Casey started to ponder the meaning of life aloud.  
“What’s that?” Leo asked from his position lying on top of Mikey and Donnie (your back had only been turned for 30 seconds while you extracted the game box from the stack with exaggerated care and somehow when you turned around Leo was lying across Mikey and Donnie and Casey had one of Raph’s sai.  
“Game of Life” you replied while April tried to pull Leo from his brothers and somehow ended up lying on top of them instead.  
“Game of what-now?” Casey asked before he was tackled to the ground by Raph, who wanted his sai back.  
“Game of Life, Casey. It’s pretty simple. You follow the board around and live out a life based on what squares you land on, but when you land on certain tiles you have to…”  
What followed was a description of the game as well as your alcohol-soaked mind could recall it which made no sense to Casey’s equally intoxicated brain. In the end it was decided that Casey would be partnered with someone who knew how to play, that person being Mikey. April quickly declared that she would play on her own, she had drunk a little less than everyone else and knew that a partner would only slow her down and she was determined to win.  
“Well I’m going with Raph” you said, clinging onto his arm like a lifeline.  
“Damn right you are. I’m not letting any of these losers marry my girl” Raph said, pulling you to him protectively.  
“What colour car are we having, babe?” you asked as the pile of turtles and April across from you untangled themselves and started to set up the board.  
“Red of course” he replied, grabbing the red car-shaped piece and ramming a blue and a pink person-shaped piece into the slots on its top.  
This game was the most ridiculous yet, especially when Mikey and Casey reached the ‘STOP: Get Married’ square, a concept Casey was very uncomfortable with but which Mikey seemed fine with, reveling in the attention as the rest of the group began to sing the wedding march.  
When you and Raph reached the same tile the reaction of the room was very different, mostly the others went with a combination of oooohs and awwwwws as you and Raph kissed. Donnie then stood up and began a mock wedding ceremony.  
“Do you, plastic blue person, take plastic pink person to be your unlawfully wedded game piece?” he asked, pointing to Raph.  
“I do” he replied.  
“And do you, plastic pink person, take plastic blue person to be your unlawfully wedded game piece?”  
“I do” you replied.  
“I now pronounce you pieces of plastic. You may smash faces”

About half way through the game you and Raph landed on a square which simply said ‘Twins!’  
“Oh my god, Raph!” you cried turning to face him.  
“What?”  
“We’re parents!”  
“You what now?” he asked, looking confused.  
“We had twins!”  
“Well how about that. I must be pretty damn fertile” Raph said and you laughed. “And I don’t even remember conceiving them”  
“Well maybe I can jog your memory” you murmured, leaning in to kiss him as Raph’s hands went to your waist.  
“Woah! Guys! We’re still here, you know!” Leo called from the other side of the board.  
“Yeah, at least wait until the game is finished before you start banging” Casey said as Mikey span the spinner.  
In the end you and Raph won, having been the model of domestic bliss throughout the game. Mikey and Casey came second, and they were mocked much for that. April came 3rd and Leo and Donnie came last, Leo blamed it on the fact that Donnie made them go to college instead of just starting a career, even though finishing order has nothing to do with who wins.  
Not that you were particularly aware for your victory, by the time it came to counting up the money you were lying in Raph’s lap staring at him.  
“Alright lovebirds, are you staying with us for jenga or do you need some alone time?” Leo asked, shoving Raph’s arm jokingly.  
“We’re staying” you said with a sigh, forcing yourself to sit upright and help to create the enormous pile of jenga blocks.  
Jenga is a wonderful game, but when those playing it are all in various stages of inebriation it is far less sophisticated. The game didn’t last long. The first round went very well but by the time it came to Raph’s second go the tower came crashing down, he’d had the most to drink by far and currently lacked the coordination needed for this game. He denied he was feeling the effects of his drinking but when he tried to prove it by spinning his sai like he always did he ended up dropping one weapon and hitting himself in the face with the handle of the other.  
“Alright, you’re too drunk to have these” you informed him, firmly removing the weapons from your boyfriend.  
“Twister!” Leo cried, noticing said game for the first time.  
“Leo, I don’t think that’s a good idea” Donnie said “Raph can barely stand, let alone play that”  
“Course I can!” Raph protested “I’ll beat your shells into the ground”  
“That’s not how you win Twister, Raph” Casey said as April helped Leo to shake out the mat.  
Twister is best when played drunk. It is absolute perfection when played with drunk ninjas. When played with drunk ninja turtles it is leant a whole new level of ridiculousness. On the one hand their elite training makes them far more flexible than most, but on the other hand their shells add a whole new obstacle to the mass of limbs and the alcohol makes everyone more likely to fall over.  
A run of limbs being sent to the green strip meant that there weren’t enough spaces to go around and no one was comfortable. There were legs in the air, heads perilously close to undesirable areas and far more close physical contact than most people there were comfortable with. Raph was determined to win and when you finally twisted yourself into a position where you could see him you could see the intense concentration on his face.  
Mikey was arched across your back like a bridge, Leo’s left leg was rammed between your right leg and your left arm with Casey helicoptering his arms frantically above the blue-clad turtle in a desperate and drawn out attempt not to fall over on Raph whose right leg and left arm were either side of Casey’s right leg, the only limb he was allowed on the mat. April and Donnie were sat by the mat laughing at you, having taken each other out early on.  
Disaster was inevitable.  
It started when Casey was told to put his left foot on red. His right leg was currently on green, red was on the other side of the mat. “No Red, please no” Casey begged, staring from April and Donnie to the other side of the mat, impossibly far away.  
“You have to do it Casey” April informed him.  
“Donnie! D! Please!”  
“It’s out of my hands Casey” Donnie informed him.  
“You can do it Casey!” You cheered him on.  
“Come on man!” Raph cried.  
“Please don’t fall on me” Leo grumbled.  
Mikey started to snore, having fallen asleep on your back.  
Casey psyched himself up, took a deep breath, finally steadied himself and went for it, weaving his leg through limbs and over bodies in a valiant effort to make it to red. But, alas, it was impossible.  
Casey lost his balance and in his attempts not to squash Raph as he fell he collapsed straight onto Leo. As Leo went down he took out your right leg and Mikey’s left arm, destabilising the careful balancing act you and the now sleeping orange turtle had created and sending you crashing to the floor with a brief scream and then an ‘oof’ as the breath was forced from you. That left only one person still standing, or rather crouching. Raph had somehow managed to avoid the worst of the chaos and withstand the hits he did get to end up the winner. And man was he smug.  
“Told you! I bloody told you I’d win! Suckers!” he cried, jumping up and down and pointing a triumphant finger at the pile of bodies in front of him.  
“That was luck” Casey grumbled.  
“No Casey, that was skill” Raph continued to gloat.  
“Right I am officially done” Donnie declared, getting up and walking over to the pile, where he grabbed Mikey’s hand and dragged him out of the heap. “And by the looks of things, Mikey’s done too”  
Mikey was still asleep, despite the collapse. Donnie shook him until he was awake enough to walk and started nudging him towards the bedrooms.  
“Lightweights” Raph scoffed, sipping at his current beer which was almost empty.  
“Yeah well I’m done too” you declared, shoving Casey until he removed himself from his position lying on top of your legs. You glanced at the time on your phone. 3am. “You can crash in my room if you like, April” you said “It’s pretty late, I wouldn’t fancy walking back through these streets this late, or should I say early”  
April took your offer gratefully.  
“What about me?” Casey asked.  
“You could crash with Mikey, the two of you made a cute couple in Game of Life” Leo said through half-closed eyes as he lay on the floor. That earned him a punch from Casey.  
“You can sleep on the sofa” you said “Raph will get you a couple of blankets”  
“I will?” Raph asked.  
“You will” you replied “And then you’ll go to bed, I think you’ve drunk enough”  
“Fine. But don’t blame me if I somehow end up in your room”  
“Good luck getting past April” you threw back with a grin as you and April headed off to your room.  
“Chin up, Raph, you’ve still got me” Casey said.  
“And me” Leo added, but he was teetering on the edge of sleep, spread-eagled on the Twister mat.  
“No offence guys but you don’t really compare” Raph grumbled, heading off to get Casey his damn blankets.


	42. The Morning After The Night Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You, the turtles, April and Casey learn that everything has consequences, especially when alcohol is involved.

Splinter was always the first member of the family up and so he was very familiar with the general way mornings in the lair tended to go. Aside from himself, Leonardo was always the first up, he might come and get some early training in or watch television. After Leo it was Donnie, practically sleepwalking into the kitchen to get some coffee before going into his lab for a while to check on his current experiments and projects. Before Donnie left his lab Y/N emerged, calling greetings to everyone who was up and enquiring after them before she headed off to raise the remaining turtles, Mikey with some kind of sarcastic or silly comment and Raphael with a kiss. None of that had happened this morning. Splinter gave them time and still no one emerged. He was passing through the common room, heading to the bedrooms to investigate when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, the glint of glass. Turning, he noticed what he’d missed earlier when he hadn’t been paying attention, the area around the TV was littered with empty beer bottles and behind the television was a pile of board games. When he moved closer he noticed the twister mat, still out and with Leo asleep on it, with Casey curled up on the sofa.  
Splinter smiled to himself. It didn’t take a genius to work out what had happened.  
There were now two options ahead of him. He could either abuse the hangovers of the many youths in the lair to provide himself with amusement or he could give them a break and let the hangovers do the punishing for him. This was a very important decision. He was just about making up his mind when he heard a groan coming from the direction of the bedrooms, accompanied a moment later by Donnie who stumbled into the common room and towards the kitchen. Splinter took in the appearance of his tallest son, usually the one to drink the least, and decided that if today was anything like it usually was after the turtles drank then it would be far too cruel to abuse their hangovers. If this was the best any of them would be then the rest of the day was not going to be a productive one.  
Splinter followed Donnie to the kitchen where he found him trying and failing make coffee. Without a word, Splinter took over the simple task and Donnie collapsed onto a chair, unable to speak until his first sip of coffee, and even then he could only manage a brief ‘good morning, sensei’.  
“Just be glad I didn’t decide to make you all train this morning” Splinter said with a slight smile.  
Donnie looked suitably ashamed and went back to his coffee while Splinter turned his attention to cooking a vast quantity of fried foods for breakfasts in the hope of luring everyone else out. Within a couple of minutes there were the sounds of movement and a moment later Leo stumbled into the kitchen, followed by Casey who literally crawled in behind him, climbing up onto a chair and sprawling on the table. “Who set fire to my eyes?” he moaned into the table.  
“Shhhh” Donnie complained, face still in his coffee.  
“Morning” called a distinctly flat voice from the doorway and April entered.  
“Do you have to yell?” Y/N replied, rubbing her head as she shuffled in behind.  
“Sorry” April murmured, gratefully accepting a cup of coffee from Donnie as she slipped in beside him. You took a seat opposite her and tried to figure out if you were really hungry or really, really not.  
As Splinter was beginning to plate up Mikey entered, duvet wrapped around him and hiding most of his face.  
Once everyone was eating Raph finally emerged, almost blindly stumbling in and taking a seat next to you.  
“Morning” you mumbled to him and Splinter passed Raph a plate.  
Raph replied with no more than an unintelligible murmur as he shoveled food into his mouth. Once he’d eaten something he finally remembered how to speak. “I told you games night was a bad idea” he grumbled.  
“You’re the one who brought the beers into it” you countered as you sipped on orange juice in the hope that the vitamins would somehow stop your head from aching.  
“Mikey’s the one who wanted to play”  
“You’re right, I blame Mikey” Mikey muttered.  
“I blame everyone” Donnie contributed.  
“I second that” April replied, raising her mug and everyone did the same, raising their coffees, orange juices etc. in the air before taking a long drink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so maybe I made the hangovers a bit extreme for people of their ages, they weren't exactly black out drunk in the last chapter and I've personally survived drinking this much with no ill effects.  
> BUT  
> This is far more amusing than everyone being fine so screw realism.


	43. Return of the Crimson Menace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it's another period chapter, the last one was just too much fun to write so I did another one, although it's only short. I had planned to post this today anyway, but it just so happens that my period started a few hours ago and when I was reading through this just to check it was ok I decided that all I want right now is this to happen. Ah well, I guess this will have to do.  
> Enjoy!

Periods are ok most of the time. Actually, who am I kidding? Periods are hell most of the time. But after the first couple of years dreading them you learn how to manage them and they become ok to some extent. Sometimes they’re like a demon though. This, Raph had been forced to swiftly learn. You and he had been together for a few months now and he had seen you at your best and worst during your monthly ‘visits’.  
He’d also started keeping a loose track of the days so that he was never too surprised when you started throwing bitchy comments left and right, as well as sometimes throwing actual things. This is why when Raph started to wonder why he hadn’t really seen you since you’d come home from work and went looking for you he wasn’t surprised to find you curled up in a nest of blankets on your bed clutching a hot water bottle to your stomach and watching animal videos on your phone.  
You looked up when Raph entered, glaring daggers at him in a ‘don’t you dare try and convince me to function’ kind of look. Your body felt like it was literally ripping itself apart, it felt like you were being repeatedly stabbed in the stomach and you were not willing to deal with anyone’s shit. He took in your look with a sympathetic smile. “Alright babe, I get it” he said and slipped out again. You snuggled back down into your nest and calculated how long it had been since you last took painkillers in the hope that you could take some more yet. No such luck.  
5 minutes later Raph knocked on the door. “Ya still in here, babe?” he asked.  
“Where else would I be?” you replied. Raph took this as permission enough to open the door. You were ready to tell him that you wanted to be alone when you noticed what he was carrying. Raph had a large bar of dark chocolate, a cup of sensei’s pain-reducing tea and a fresh hot water bottle as well as your laptop tucked under his arm.  
“What’s all this?” you asked.  
“This is my ‘Y/N has had a bad day slash is on her period’ kit” he replied.  
“Your what?” you asked as he laid the items on the bed, putting the tea on your bedside table.  
“Ever since that first time we found out about periods I’ve been stocked up on this stuff, in case you scream at me about chocolate and dog food adverts again” he replied with a smile “We’re gonna binge-watch Space Heroes and eat dark chocolate in a nest of blankets and hot water bottles until you feel less crap” he said, rearranging the blanket nest so he could slip in behind you, holding the newly warm hot water bottle to your abdomen while he loaded up Space Heroes on your laptop.  
“Are you perfect? I think you’re perfect” you said as he took his hand away from your aching stomach only long enough to hold the tea to your lips while you took a sip and then to feed you some chocolate. Once he had Space Heroes up and running he was able to dedicate one hand to massaging your poor, battered abdomen and the other to feeding you. You turned to look at him with tired eyes.  
“I love you” you said, simply.  
“I love you too” he said back.  
“Even when I’m cranky and antisocial?”  
“Even then”


	44. He Has A Nightmare

It was the middle of the night and you’d dragged yourself from your bed to go to the toilet. On your way back to bed the faint sounds of something reminiscent of a struggle reached your ears. You were instantly on high alert and quickly traced the noises to Raph’s room. Now that you were closer you could tell that it wasn’t a particularly violent fight, which was even more confusing. You opened the door quietly and when you did things started to make more sense. Mikey was sat on Raph’s bed, struggling to control the flailing limbs of your apparently unconscious boyfriend.  
“Mikey? What the shell’s going on?” you asked as you entered. Mikey seemed a little startled by your voice but quickly got over it as he dodged one of Raph’s uncontrolled fists.  
“Y/N! He’s having a nightmare”  
“Christ” you whispered “you can say that again, I don’t think I even wanna know what’s going on in his head. Can I help?”  
“Yeah, you can try and help me pin his body and calm him down” Mikey replied, finally managing to get a firm hold on Raph’s arms but not being able to do anything about his legs. You lunged at the bed, throwing your body onto his powerful legs and desperately trying not to get kicked in the face.  
“Raph, you have to wake up baby” you said as you felt his legs start to struggle more fiercely in response to being pinned.  
“Come on bro, wake up” Mikey said.  
“Wake up, Raph” you said, more forcefully this time.  
“Wake up, Raph” Mikey begged as he struggled against the still stronger fight Raph was trying to give. Then you realised that, in whatever fight Raph was having in his head, your insistent, alarmed voices would blend into the din and seem perfectly in place with his panicked mindset. So instead you calmed your voice and started to gently stroke his leg.  
“It’s time to wake up, Raphael” you said, your voice gentle and caring. “It’s time to wake up, baby”  
The comforting tone cut through Raph’s chaotic mind and told him that he was safe. Mikey noticed how his brother stopped struggling once you’d changed your tone and so he started to join in.  
“Nothing’s wrong, Raph. You’re just in your room. You’re just dreaming” he said in a light tone.  
“Come on Raph, you can stop fighting now” you said, still stroking his leg tenderly and he finally stopped struggling, eyes flickering open.  
The first thing Raph’s sleep-addled mind took in was Mikey’s face and for a second he was extremely confused. He knew that someone had called him ‘baby’ and that someone had been lovingly stroking his leg and it seemed incredibly weird for that to have been Mikey, then he looked a little further and noticed you sat at the end of his bed, hair an absolute mess and slightly out of breath from struggling to fight him into submission.  
“Welcome back” you said with a smile.  
“Woah, dude, that must have been some nightmare” Mikey remarked, standing up so that Raph had the room to sit up.  
“You can say that again” Raph muttered, obviously pretty shaken up. “Thanks for pulling me out”  
“No problem” Mikey said, a little taken aback that Raph had actually said thank you. It was clear to him that Raph was still a little disoriented as he tried to fully drag his mind out of sleep and in this state he had no shields, he was vulnerable and open and that felt weird to Mikey. There was no gruff note in his voice, no façade of invulnerability and unfailing self-assurance there. Mikey knew that Raph wouldn’t ever want one of his brothers to see him like that.  
“I guess I’ll be off to bed” he said as he headed for the door, catching eyes with Y/N who gave him a smile.  
“Yeah ok, thanks Mikey” you said as he left.  
Once Mikey was gone Raph looked at you, giving up all his attempts to try and act even a little bit ok and looking scared and upset. You scooted up the bed so you were sat closer to him and so that you could place a gentle hand behind his head.  
“It’s ok, baby, you’re awake now. It’s ok, it wasn’t real. It’s ok, I’m here. It’s ok” you whispered, placing kisses on his face before resting your forehead on his. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” you asked, holding his hand with your free one as you moved the one on his head down to cup his neck.  
“I don’t want to have to think about it” he muttered.  
“Then we won’t” you whispered, kissing his forehead. “I’m not going anywhere Raph, ok? I’m gonna stay here tonight” you told him, maneuvering yourself so that you were holding him, guiding him back down to rest his head on the pillow and offering him comfort with the closeness of your body. “It wasn’t real, Raph” you whispered into his ear. “Go back to sleep, I’m here to keep you safe”  
You kept muttering comforts into his ear until he relaxed fully and eventually allowed himself to fall back to sleep and only then did you let yourself do the same.


	45. You Have A Nightmare

Alone. So alone. There’s no one here with you. It’s dark and cold, so damn cold, and you are so very alone. Where is everyone?  
You’re running through an abandoned, rundown warehouse, trying to hide from some unseen menace, trying to get away. This is somewhere between dream and memory, a memory of the Kraang invasion. You can’t find anyone, don’t know what’s happened to them. The other kids from the orphanage, the ones you’ve been surviving with, they’re gone. Everyone is gone. You throw yourself against a wooden crate, trying to hide from the dark source of your fear which might be the Kraang or it might be some other monster, and you’re vaguely aware of something metal cutting your arm as you brush against a nail that’s sticking out and blood begins to drip down onto the floor.  
So much blood, a disproportionate amount. It’s like you’re drowning in it.  
And the thing is coming closer, the dark mass that still might be the Kraang or some other monster but now it might also be the bad guy from that film whose name you can never remember or maybe it’s the school bully from when you were 6, your mind can’t decide, all you know is that it’s terrifying and it’s coming. It’s coming. For you. And it won’t stop.  
The turtles. Where are the turtles? Where the fuck are they? They saved you last time so where are they now?  
You scramble away from the crate and it just keeps getting darker.  
“Run” a voice says and there’s a hand on your arm and you’re running. Whoever it is is dragging you down a corridor and you can’t keep up this pace. “You have to run” they say and when you look at them they look like your mother. But you can’t keep the pace up and you fall behind. She runs off into the dark and leaves you alone on a cold floor while your life flows out of the cut in your arm and that thing is getting closer.  
It’s coming. It’s always coming for you. You can sense it coming closer but you can’t turn, you just know that whatever it is brings darkness with it. It’s on you now, a cold darkness that settles on you and that smells like fear and loneliness and pain.  
Pain.  
It hurts so much. Everyone is gone and you are alone, alone with your pain and your suffering and the memories of losing everything and everyone. It’s laughing at you, laughing at your pain and your fear.  
So much fear.  
You scream, because right now that’s all you can do. You scream and hope that someone will come.  
There’s a crashing sound, like a door flying open, and a voice you know is calling your name. That voice is so achingly familiar and you don’t know why. Then suddenly your eyes opened and Raph was there, calling your name, telling you to wake up. There were tears streaming down your cheeks and for a second you couldn’t tell what was real. Then that second ended and you knew where you were again.  
“Raph” you sobbed and he pulled you into his arms as you clung to him in terror.  
“It’s ok, princess, it’s ok, I’m here” he whispered, rubbing your back and holding you close as you trembled in his arms.  
“Everyone was gone” you sobbed as you buried your face into his neck “they were all gone and it was coming for me and I was so alone and cold I didn’t know where you were, where anyone was… and my mother was there and she left… and… and I was so scared” you whimpered.  
“It wasn’t real. I’m here and you’re safe at home and nothing’s coming for you” he soothed you, clambering into the bed with you and pulling you down to lie in his arms. “It’s ok, you’re safe and I love you” he whispered into your ear, and continued to whisper into your ear as you took in his familiar smell and allowed yourself to feel safe again.


	46. Hanging With Leo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because it can't all be about Raph

“Y/N!” Leo called, hopping over the back of the sofa behind you.  
“Leo” you replied calmly, lowering the comic you were reading, Raph had leant it to you with the promise you’d love it.  
“It struck me that you don’t have a LARP character or costume” he said.  
“And judging by your face I’m going to assume that this is a problem” you replied, looking at Leo’s serious expression incredulously.  
“A very serious problem” he replied “one I’m going to fix”, and with that he took your hand and started leading you towards his room. Next thing you knew you were sat on Leo’s bed and he was stood in front of you with a notepad and pen. “Ok Y/N, first we need to design you a character” he said “now you need to be different from the rest of us. I’m a knight; Raph’s a Dwarf barbarian; Donnie’s a wizard and Mikey’s an elf so they’re not options”  
“Well you’ve eliminated most of the best options there, Leo. What do I even have left?”  
“You could be a healer”  
“No way! Healers are boring and they always get killed first!” you protested.  
“Well what would you like to be?”  
You thought for a second then a thought struck you. “Assassin. I want to be a stealthy assassin”  
Leo grinned. “That sounds cool!” he said but then he looked a little confused “wait isn’t that basically a ninja?”  
“It’s like a ninja, only I’m allowed to be far less honourable”  
“Right, ok. What do assassins wear?”  
“Oh you know, black clothes, dark hood, bristling with weapons”  
Leo grinned “That sounds cool” he said.  
“I know” you replied. “Right, give me that pad” you said, taking the paper from him and starting to draw.

4 hours later the masterpiece was done. Your costume was complete. You were wearing an old pair of black leggings with some black painted kneepads made of cardboard attached; a black vest top with a thick belt, made from a length of rubber tubing cut in half; some knee-length boots with some fake knives down them and a dark hooded cloak which went down to your waist. To top it all off you were wearing black eyeshadow and eyeliner and dark lipstick.  
Leo stood back to admire your costume.  
“We have created a masterpiece” he declared and you gave him your most wicked, assassin-like smile.  
“I’m starting to understand why you like this game so much” you said.


	47. Hanging With Donnie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because it can't all be about Raph

“Y/N, can you come in here? I need your input on something” Donnie called from the lab, you put your comic down with a sigh.  
“Sure” you called back, reluctant to leave your warm spot on the sofa but not wanting to be rude. You headed to the lab. “What d’ya need?” you asked, but your attention was soon stolen by the person-sized robot which was stood in the corner of the room. The thing was elegantly built, with very few sharp lines, and it was bristling with gadgets. However, it was still rather plain, all plain metal. Donnie noticed you staring and smiled.  
“She’s quite a thing, isn’t she?” he said and you wandered closer, a little awestruck.  
“Did you build this?”  
Donnie’s grin widened. “Just call me Gepetto”  
“Does it have a name?” you asked, tentatively reaching out to touch its shiny arm.  
“Mia. It stands for mutant instant assistant”  
“Does it really stand for that or did you just really wanna call it Mia?”  
“I’ll admit, I started with the name and worked backwards”  
You smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Alright, what do you need me for?”  
“Well you see, Mia’s looking kinda dull and I can’t decide what kind of aesthetic to go with, I was wondering if you have any ideas”  
You gasped in delight “You want me to help you decide what she’s gonna look like?”  
“If you don’t mind”  
“Mind? I would love to!” you said, suddenly very excited. You grabbed a pad from Donnie’s desk and a pencil. “First, colour scheme”  
“I’m beginning to think that this was a bad idea” Donnie muttered, but he was smiling as he grabbed some coloured paints.

2 hours later the masterwork was complete. Painted in a camouflage pattern of red, blue, orange, purple and, of course, green. Mia’s colour scheme was beautiful a combination of all the turtles she would be assisting, as were her designers’ faces. You weren’t sure who’d been painted more, Mia or you and D.  
You stood back and admired her as Donnie finished off painting her name in purple letters on her back.  
“Donnie, we have created a masterpiece” you declared.  
“The question is, is the masterpiece Mia or ourselves?” he asked, looking down at his paint-splattered shell and at the apron you were wearing.  
“What the…” you heard a voice from the doorway and looked up to see Raph, staring from the robot to his brother and girlfriend in confusion. “You’re supposed to get the paint on the robot, guys, not yourselves”  
“Don’t you like our new look?” you asked, doing a spin “I was thinking of making this an everyday thing”  
Raph snorted. “Not likely”  
“Don’t mock it ‘til you try it, Raph, I think multicolour splodges would suit you” Donnie said with a smirk.  
“No thanks” the hothead said, backing away slowly. You gave Donnie a wicked grin.  
“You pin him, I’ll paint him” you muttered and Donnie grinned back before sprinting off. You grabbed a paintbrush and followed.  
Raph was the stronger of the brothers, but Donnie had the element of surprise and rugby tackled his brother to the floor.  
“Don’t you dare” Raph growled, wriggling beneath Donnie’s grip as you approached with a paintbrush.  
“Join us, Raph” you said in your best brainwashed voice “become one with the colour”  
“Don’t even think about it, Y/N!” Raph yelled, but it was already too late. In a few sweeps of the brush Raph was branded with a smiley face on his plastron. Donnie finally let him go and the 2 of you stood back to admire your now angry boyfriend before he stormed off.  
“We were wrong, Mia isn’t our masterpiece, that is” Donnie said and you laughed before running off after Raph to make up for the humiliation.


	48. Hanging With Mikey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because it can't all be about Raph

You were getting changed out of your work clothes when there was a knock at the door.  
“One sec” you called, pulling a t-shirt and jeans on before you opened the door, revealing Mikey leaning coolly against the doorframe, arms folded and wearing sunglasses.  
“Hi Mikey” you said.  
“Y/N” he replied with a nod and then went quiet.  
“Well?” you asked.  
“I’m a busy guy, Dudette. I have lots of responsibilities”  
“Do you now?” you replied. He nodded once.  
“It has struck me that I have been letting the greatest of my responsibilities go unfulfilled and I need your help to right this wrong. I, Doctor Prankenstein, need your help”  
Realisation dawned. “Ah, I see. Well, doctor, I am at your disposal”  
At this, Mikey let his cool demeanor finally slip and he grinned. “Great. We are gonna wreak some havoc”

 

Leo was in the dojo, practicing his katas. He was in the zone, thinking of nothing but the flow of the moves.  
He was dragged from his focus by the sound of light footsteps scurrying through the dojo. His eyes shot open but he couldn’t see anyone. There was only one person it could be.  
“You really have to work on your stealth, Mikey” he said with a sigh. The water balloon exploded over him in a shower of cold, but Leo didn’t even flinch. “You really have to do better” he said with a sigh, turning away in mock disgust.  
Before Leo could process what was happening he felt pure terror clutch his heart, his automatic reactions being a little ahead of his brain as he found himself faced with a hideous figure. The creature was black and ragged, long strips of what he could only assume were its skin hanging off its wretched frame. Its face was pale, with no nose and eyes that almost seemed to be glowing. It lifted its arms and pointed at Leo, letting out a sickening howl as Leo screamed in shock and fear.  
When the ring of his own cry had left his ears, he became aware of another sound, laughing. The creature seemed to be laughing at him, doubled over and clutching its stomach. There was laughing behind him too.  
“What the?” Leo asked, turning around to see his littlest and most annoying brother crying with laughter. Turning back to the source of his fear he noticed that it wasn’t quite the horrifying creature he’d first thought. In fact, it had pulled its head off to reveal Y/N’s beneath it. She was dressed in a costume which looked very similar to what Mikey had worn last Halloween and she was bent double, trying to control her laughter enough to breathe.  
“You should have seen your face!” she squealed before being overcome by another fit of laughter, tears streaming down her face.  
“Oh dude, you were so scared” Mikey howled, rolling on his shell and kicking his legs in the air.  
“Oh, very mature” He said, trying to hide how his heart was still pounding.  
“I don’t care if it’s mature, it was hilarious” you gasped.  
And with that you and Mikey left the dojo, high-fiving as you went.

 

Donnie was in his lab, but to be fair Donnie was always in his lab. This predictability made him a prime target for pranks. He was bent over his desk, combining various chemicals and taking notes on the following reactions, so focused on his work that when there was a knock on the door he jumped half a foot backwards. Spinning round, he saw Y/N stood in the doorway. She grinned apologetically.  
“Jeeze, sorry D, didn’t mean to startle you” you lied, you’d actually been stood there for a couple of minutes, waiting for the perfect moment.  
“Oh, Y/N. No, no it’s fine, I in my own world, I guess. What do you need?”  
“It’s nothing really, if you’re busy I can come back later”  
“No, it’s fine, what can I do for you?”  
“It’s my T-phone, it seems to have frozen” you said, handing him your phone. You’d set the background to a screenshot of your usual home screen so that when you tapped the ‘apps’ nothing happened. Donnie took the phone and began tapping things, to no effect. You glanced over his shoulder, checking that everything was set before forming your face into a concerned expression.  
“Um, Donnie… Is it supposed to be doing that?” you asked, pointing to the now smoking desk which was slowly filling with foam.  
“Oh no, no, no, nonononono!” Donnie said, chucking your phone at you before sprinting over to the desk where he found his notebook, covered in foam, all his notes unreadable.  
Then his eyes fell on the frothing, smoking container. It wasn’t one of his beakers, it appeared to be a regular drinking glass. Then he became aware of laughing coming from above him, looking up to see Mikey hanging from the ceiling by a chain, Donnie’s real notebook in his hand. He started writing on a fresh page of the book, reading what he was writing aloud.  
“Baking soda, vinegar, slow-release smoke bomb and fake research notebook combined on desk. Results: terrified Donatello. Conclusion: hilarious”  
Donnie glared at Mikey, then looked to you and noticed that you were laughing too. “Y/N… No… Not you too”  
You shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about” you said, waving your obviously functioning phone at him.  
Mikey chucked Donnie’s notebook at him. “See you around, bro” he said, swinging across the room and following Y/N as they left.

 

Alright, Dudette, we’ve done Leo and Donnie but they’re small fry. Are you ready to take on the big guy?”  
You looked at Mikey, realisation dawning. “I don’t know, Mikey…”  
“Oh come on, Y/N! We’ve come this far!”  
“He’ll kill us!”  
“Nah, Raph would never hurt you, he’s crazy about you. You’re my secret weapon! My chance to finally get him good! Besides, if he gets too angry you can just distract him with those gooey ‘come hither’ eyes of yours”  
You raised your eyebrows “Can I now?”  
“Sure, that’s how it works, right?”  
You were about to protest but gave up. “Yeah, I guess you’re right”  
“So, you in?”  
“Yeah, I’m in. But if he dumps me I’m holding you personally responsible”  
“Deal! Time to prank!”

 

Raph was in the dojo, lifting weights, when you walked in.  
“Thought I might find you here, babe” you said, smiling sweetly and leaning over him to press a kiss to his nose.  
“Well this is a nice surprise” he said, slotting the weight back into its slot and sitting up “what d’you want?”  
“Oh nothin’, I just wanted to see my beautiful boyfriend” you said, sliding your arms around his waist and pecking a tantalisingly gentle kiss on his lips, slowly scratching your nails along his shell. Raph liked that and you knew it, the gentle vibrations it sent through his whole body sent him crazy. It distracted him entirely, made it so that all he could think about was you. He had no idea you’re stuck a piece of paper to his back, an image carefully drawn by Mikey of Raph in a dress and tiara with the words ‘I’m a pretty princess’ scrawled beneath.  
You continued to kiss him for a minute, not wanting to waste the moment considering he was potentially about to get very annoyed at you. After that minute you drew away.  
“Alright, that’s all I needed. You can get back to your weights now”  
“What?”  
“I wouldn’t want to disrupt your workout” you said with a grin, leaving a rather confused and frustrated turtle as you walked out of the dojo, joining Mikey who was waiting outside. “Now we wait” you said. Dr. Prankenstein grinned at you.  
“It’s a slow burn, but it’ll be worth it” he replied.  
The 2 of you set yourselves up on the sofa, waiting to watch the fall out.

Raph was getting suspicious. He’d been getting weird looks from the others for a couple of hours now and he wasn’t sure why. He thought he kept hearing sniggers, but he had no idea what was so funny.  
When Casey entered the lair and saw Raph playing on an arcade machine, he burst out laughing.  
“Alright, what the hell is so funny?” he asked, finally having had enough.  
“Nothing, Raph, nothing” Casey said, still spluttering a little.  
“Don’t lie to me, Jones. What’s going on?”  
“Nothing, I swear. I’m not laughing, I’m just overflowing with emotions at the sight of your beauty”  
“What?”  
“It’s just, I think you got something on your shell” Casey said, backing away slowly. Raph reached behind him, stretching his fingers until they brushed against what felt like paper.  
“What the?” he asked, grabbing paper and taking it in.  
“MIKEY!” he yelled, not even needing to think about the culprit.  
“Run, Y/N, run!” Mikey yelled, dragging you up from the sofa and pulling you with him as he started to run. Raph looked confused a second.  
“Princess? Not you too?”  
“It was Mikey’s idea! He made me do it!” you screamed, running away.  
“Oh you are gonna pay” he growled. The look in his eyes meant only one thing.  
Mikey was right, he’d never hurt you. But there was something he would do, tickle.  
“Raph! Please! Reconsider!” you screamed, running as fast as you could. It wasn’t fast enough. Raph caught you easily.  
“Would it help if I reminded you how much I love you?” you asked. Raph grinned at you, a predatory look in his eye. He shook his head.  
“Not at all”


	49. LARP

There was something in the air, a slowly increasing sense of anticipation. Something was coming. Yes, it was time for a quest.  
With the promise of adventure and reward, costumes were donned and minds prepared. Leo was in charge, having set out ‘an adventurous masterpiece’ in the sewers surrounding the lair. You, Raph, Donnie and Mikey lined up in front of your leader, who paced back and forth down the line.  
“This is no ordinary quest, no usual adventure” he said, using his best heroic leader voice “we have a new member among our ranks, lady Y/N, master assassin, queen of shadows. Now that we are 5, not four, we can finally tackle the greatest of challenges. While we are here we are safe, but once we step out of that door we enter a labyrinth of traps, enemies and unknowable danger. Ordinarily I would never ask a group of people, even ones as experienced as yourselves, to enter this maze of misery, but we have no choice. Deep within the sewers is a captive, someone close to our hearts. That’s right, the enemy has taken Chompy. That poor, defenseless baby space monster only has enough snacks and toys to keep him entertained for two hours, tops, before the enemy gets bored of his cuteness and decides to leave him to the merciless care of the ruthless professor ice cream kitty. We’re on a timer, and it’s already started. Let’s move out!”  
With a raucous cry, the group left the lair. Once you entered the sewer tunnels the turtles all started walking slowly and with exaggerated movements.  
“What are you guys doing?” you asked with a laugh.  
“It’s sloooooow mo tiiime” Mikey said in a deep, slow voice.  
“Just do it, there’s no point arguing” Raph muttered out the corner of his mouth.  
“Oh I’m not compainiiiiing” you said, starting normally and then descending into slow-mo voice and movement. Raph rolled his eyes at you, but he did it in slow motion which sent you into a fit of giggles. You’d just about conquered the giggles when something flew down from above you, hitting you before wriggling around. You screamed at first, hiding you face for a moment before leaping into action, leaping backwards with your fake assassin knives drawn. You swiped at the enemy - a stuffed sack, drawn in about 1/5th from the top to create a head, with a crudely drawn face painted on. Within moments the enemy was felled, lying limp and lifeless on the floor.  
“Congratulations adventurers, we are one step closer to our goal. But oh!” Leo declared, looking at the wall with mock amazement “what is this? Could it be a clue?”  
You swaggered up to the wall, getting a little too into character and all too aware of the hungry look in Raph’s eyes (you were dressed like an assassin, in Raph’s book that was hot) and you snatched the piece of paper that was stuck to the wall.  
“What is it, oh dark shadow?” Mikey asked.  
“It’s the goblin’s instructions from his master, my elven friend” you replied.  
“What do they say?”  
“It appears that this fiend was sent to check on the traps in this area. These instructions include a map, and instructions on how to avoid them”  
“Huzzah!” Leo cried, “onwards adventurers, we will now make excellent time”  
Leo wasn’t wrong, you stormed your way through the sewers, avoiding the ‘traps’ easily and taking out a few more ‘enemies’ along the way. It was dorky and stupid but it was also a lot of fun, and the fact that Raph was fully engaging in it made everything that much more entertaining. Raph decided that being a dwarf barbarian meant he was allowed to be even more unrefined than usual.  
In one final triumphant charge, you stormed into the area where Chompy was being held. In the middle of the room was a pen with a scattering of Chompy’s toys and favourite snacks, but the adorable purple fire turtle was nowhere to be seen.  
“Where is he?” you asked, looking round. Leo looked just as confused as everyone. Raph turned on his brother, anger flaring in his eyes.  
“Where is he, Leo?” he asked, hands balling into fists. Leo was searching for answers, but he hadn’t managed to come up with everything when you heard an evil laugh echoing through the sewers.  
“You fools” a voice said, echoing around the room you were stood in “I kidnapped your little pet to lure you all here, and you walked right into my trap”  
“Leo, who’s that?” Donnie asked, looking around for the source of the voice.  
“I don’t know”  
“Dudes we need to stop LARPing, it always goes badly” Mikey said.  
“Show yourself!” Raph yelled.  
“If you insist” the voice said and someone stepped out of the shadows, dressed in dark armour and with a helmet in the shape of a skull. On their shoulder, sat Chompy.  
“Chompy!” Raph cried, storming at the person, who dodged easily.  
“Now, now, Chompy is fine, I haven’t turned him over to Ice Cream Kitty just yet. It’s you I want. You’re the greatest adventurers the kingdom has ever seen, and as such must be stopped”  
You and Raph locked eyes with each other. While your bond with the little turtle was nothing like Raph’s, you still adored him, and when you played with him together you couldn’t help but feel like the 3 of you were a unit, a family if you will. You weren’t letting this ‘villain’ get away with this. Using the silent communication only a couple in love can master, you and Raph made a plan.  
It went down in the blink of an eye. In the same moment, Raph yelled at the masked stranger to “Give Chompy back!” and charged, while you used this distraction to slip round to their other side, slamming into the kidnapper and grabbing Chompy from their shoulder while Raph pinned them to the floor, ripping away the skull helmet to reveal none other than Casey Jones.  
“Casey! What the hell?” Raph asked, still pinning his friend.  
“Alas, foiled again! It seems I was too ambitious, taking on such adventurers as yourselves”  
“What are you doing here?” you asked as Raph clambered off Casey and hauled him to his feet.  
“Fulfilling the role I was born to play. Your little roleplaying sessions are all well and good but what you’ve really been missing is a kickass villain to defeat. That’s where I come in”  
“I wanna be mad at you for scaring us like that, but that was pretty cool” you said. Raph was busily tickling Chompy.  
“Why can’t I ever come up with a story without someone else intervening?” Leo grumbled to himself.


	50. Raph Gets Hurt

“Y/N is gonna be so mad” Raph muttered through gritted teeth.  
“You’re not wrong, dude” Mikey, who had Raph’s arm around his shoulders, replied.  
“I’ll deal with Y/N, just let Donnie deal with you” Leo, who had Raph’s other arm over his shoulders, assured his brother. Raph had busted his leg on patrol, he had a couple of nasty gashes, hastily bandaged but they would need stitches, and it was possible he’d broken something. His brothers were helping him, practically carrying him through the sewers.

The group limped into the lair and, hearing their arrival, you came out of the kitchen. Seeing your boyfriend being pretty much carried in, bandaged and grimacing, made you feel sick. “Shit, Raph!”  
“I’m ok, princess” he said through gritted teeth, “it’s nothin’, Donnie’ll have me patched up, no trouble”  
“What the shell happened?” you asked, relieved that it didn’t seem to be anything too serious, although the blood seeping through his bandages didn’t exactly make you happy.  
“I’ll tell you everything, let Donnie take care of Raph” Leo said, transferring the weight Raph was resting on him to Donnie. You nodded, watching the others go into the lab.  
“Is he really ok?” You asked Leo.  
“He’s fine, couple of gashes and maybe a break”  
“So what happened? Foot clan? Purple Dragons? Mutants?”  
“Raph happened”  
Your face went from concerned to stern. “What did he do?”  
“We were checking out an abandoned factory, there’d been some freaky sightings there and we were just taking a look. We knew the place was a little unstable, Raph just wasn’t quite as careful as the rest of us. He jumped onto a staircase we knew wasn’t safe, and he just went straight through”  
“He did what?!”, your shrill voice could be heard in Donnie’s lab, where Raph groaned and closed his eyes.  
“Told you she’d be mad” he said.  
“And so she should be” Donnie said, about to chastise his brother.  
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, D. You don’t need to tell me off, whatever you do won’t be nearly as bad as whatever she’s gonna do to me”  
“Raphael Hamato!”  
Mikey gave Raph a sympathetic look as your furious voice was heard, right before you barged into the lab. “How could you be so stupid?”, Raph didn’t have an answer for you.  
“He doesn’t seem to have broken anything, somehow” Donnie said, “although he’ll need to stay off that leg for a few days. If you give me 5 minutes I can have his leg stitched up and he’s all yours”  
“Oh don’t worry, when I’m done with him he may never walk again” you said, fiery eyes locked on Raph. You were mad as all hell, but you still took his hand while Donnie dragged the needle through his flesh, more for your benefit than Raph’s. Donnie finished up quickly, leaving Raph’s leg clean and tidy.  
“There, all done. We’ll leave you two alone” Donnie said and, sensing that staying there was going to be dangerous, the others left as swiftly as they could. Raph was silent, accepting his fate.  
You let go of Raph’s hand and stepped away, looking at him carefully for a moment before finally releasing your anger.  
“What the hell were you thinking?!” you asked, almost screamed. Sensing this was rhetorical, Raph said nothing. “Oh yeah, that’s right, you weren’t thinking! Jumping through rotten stairs! You could have brought the whole place down for all you knew! You are so fucking lucky you weren’t hurt worse. For god sake Raph, I…”, you went from yelling to quiet in that one sentence, then you went silent before you could finish, burying your face in your hands and slumping into the desk chair.  
Raph didn’t like that. Angry, yelling you he could handle, he’d expected that, he hadn’t expected this.  
“Hey, princess, it’s ok” he tried to reassure you.  
“Don’t you ‘princess’ me”  
That shocked him. That was the first time you’d told Raph not to call you princess. There was silence in the lab as he gave you time to work out what you wanted to say, a silence that went on much longer than he’d wanted and it took him a little by surprise when you finally broke it.  
“Your life is beautiful and precious and it does not belong to you. You are just the caretaker, the one responsible for something which means so much to the people who love you”  
“What are you talking about?”  
You looked up, e/c eyes latching onto his with a burning intensity. “If you die then we’re the ones who suffer. I’m the one who suffers. You’ll be dead, it won’t matter to you anymore, but everyone who loves you will feel the pain. So your life isn’t yours, it’s ours, it belongs to the people who’ll hurt when it’s gone. You’re allowed to risk it if it means saving other people, saving the world, doing good. But if you throw away something which means everything to me because you are careless and stupid then that will be a lot harder for me to accept”  
Raph had no words. He’d never really thought about it like that before, he’d never considered that his life wasn’t actually his own. But of course it wasn’t, it was Y/N’s, and now that he realised it he felt like the biggest idiot in the world.  
“Oh god, Y/N, I’m so sorry. I never thought about it like that”  
“No, you didn’t, but it’s ok. I’m not really mad at you, it’s not my choice what you do with your life”  
“Of course it is. I’m yours and I would never do anything to hurt you. I’ll be more careful in future, I promise”  
You got up from the chair and came to sit next to him. “Thank you, Raph, I appreciate it”  
He nuzzled his face into your neck. “I’d do anything for you, you know that” he murmured into your neck “I’m obsessed with you”  
“And I’m besotted with you” you replied “and I always will be. And now you’ve got the next few days to make things up to me, considering you’re not allowed to go anywhere”  
“Ah well, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be trapped down here with”


	51. Distracting Raph

Raph didn’t like sitting still, at least not for hours and hours on end, and so he was making the life of everyone in the lair a nightmare. You were doing your best to distract him, but within 2 days you were completely out of things to do. You arrived home from work on the 3rd day to find an insufferable turtle, driving his brothers mad.  
“Oh come on, Donnie, I’ve been sittin’ round for 2 days, my leg doesn’t even hurt anymore” Raph complained.  
“And you’ll just have to sit around for a couple of days longer” Donnie said, drained of all sympathy he might have had for his brother “And if you try to get up one more time I’ll have Mikey sit on you”  
Donnie was stood in front of Raph, staff in hand and holding the tip against his brother’s plastron. He looked up as you entered and relief flooded his face.  
“Y/N, thank god, he’s your problem now” Donnie said.  
“What? Don’t I get a chance to change out of my work clothes first? Donnie!”, but Donnie was already gone so you turned your attention to Raph. “Have you been causing problems for your brothers?” you asked, like you were talking to a child. Raph didn’t appreciate your tone.  
“I keep telling them I’m fine but they won’t even let me stand up”  
“They’re looking after you until you’re better, you’re lucky they still care, it’s your own stupid fault” you said, slumping next to him on the sofa.  
“Oh come on, I apologised. How was your day, anyway?”  
“Alright, I’m glad to be home though”  
“I’m glad you’re home, too” Raph said, nuzzling your neck “you’re much better at distracting me than my stupid brothers”  
“Don’t be mean, it’s not their fault you’re insufferable”  
“No, it’s your fault, for leaving me all day long. I hate having to sit around here all day without you”  
You laughed, Raph did his best puppy eyes. “You’re pathetic” you said, still grinning “now I’m going to change out of my work things, don’t go anywhere”  
“I can’t make any promises”  
You looked at Raph for a second, trying to work out how to make him stay off his feet. Raph’s stubborn, but there’s one thing which always makes him do what you want. You leant in and gave him a long, lingering kiss. “If you stay here and stay off your feet, you’ll get a hell of a lot more than that when I get back”  
“Well that’s a whole other matter” he said with a grin.  
You took your time getting changed, brushing your hair, washing your face etc. and by the time you returned to Raph, he was out of patience. He grabbed your hand and dragged you down to sit beside him, peppering your neck with kisses, hand sliding up under your top.  
“What if the others walk in?” you giggled.  
“I ain’t takin’ anything off you” he replied “it’s just a bit of kissing”  
You sighed, giving in and rolling over, straddling him. “Oh this is more than that” you murmured seductively, as you ran your hands up and down his thighs.  
By the time you were done with him, Raph wasn’t bored anymore.


	52. First Patrol

Training was officially over for the day and everyone had left the dojo, apart from you. For the past few weeks you’d been training extra hard, taking an extra 30 minutes to an hour after daily training to go over techniques, stances etc. and at least 15 minutes before bed every day. Raph had, as promised, offered up some of his down time to help you train. As well as an opportunity to improve, it was also a great chance for some boyfriend-girlfriend bonding and you’d enjoyed it.  
You were alone in the dojo, going over a new technique, when Leo walked in.  
“Hey Y/N”  
“Hey Leo”, you relaxed and picked up the bottle of water you had sat nearby.  
“You’ve been training pretty hard recently, you’ve really improved”  
“Thanks” you said, brushing some hair out of your eyes.  
“You know, we’re going out on patrol later. How would you feel about joining us?”  
“For real?”  
“Yeah, of course, I think you’re good enough and the others agree”  
“I’d love to!” you cried, fighting the urge to jump up and down in excitement. Living with a bunch of vigilantes and working in a shop meant that you often felt a little useless, they were making the city a safer place and you were stacking shelves. This was your chance to finally join the team.  
But when evening came around and it was almost time to go out, you found yourself more than a little nervous.  
You were in your room, getting changed into black leggings and a black long-sleeved top with a black belt holding your tonfas around your middle, as well as a plethora of other items such as smoke bombs and shurikens. You scraped your hair back from your face and added thick, black eyeliner and dark lipstick (aesthetic is important) before staring at yourself in the mirror. You certainly looked the part, but now that you were actually about to do it you were questioning if you were ready.  
That was when there was a knock at the door.  
“Ya in here, babe?” Raph’s voice asked from the other side.  
“Yeah, come in, Raph” you called, dragging your eyes away from your reflection. The door opened and your boyfriend walked in.  
“Damn Y/N, you look fierce” he remarked, planting a hand on your waist momentarily as his lips connected with yours.  
“Thanks, that’s what I was aiming for”  
He looked at you steadily for a moment, seeing past your smile to feelings that lay beneath. “You’ll be fine y’know. More than fine. Leo wouldn’t invite you if you weren’t ready”  
“Promise?”  
“Promise” he said, kissing your nose, “now come on, let’s go make you a vigilante”  
And so, with your boyfriend at your side and your friends surrounding you, you set off into the night.

2 hours in you were starting to believe there wouldn’t be any action, then you heard yelling. There was a second’s pause while everyone registered the sound, and then you leapt into action, making your way as a group towards the yelling. What you found was a familiar scene, a group of purple dragons roughing up a girl about your own age. In fact, the scene was too familiar. Raph took in the faces of the group at the same time as you did.  
“Hey princess, aren’t those the guys who were roughing you up when we first met?”  
Your eyes darkened and unconsciously you reached for your tonfa. “Yeah, that’s the guys” you said, voice ominously calm.  
“Looks like they’re pulling the same stunt again” Leo murmured.  
“When I’m done with them they won’t try it again” you said and, before anyone could stop you, you’d leapt down the building and into the alley below. The others moved to follow you but Raph held but his arm.  
“Wait, this is something she needs to do”

You entered the alley like a silent shadow and stood between the group and their exit.  
“Leave her alone!” you called. All eyes turned to you, a figure silhouetted against the light of the streetlamps. The men laughed.  
“I suppose you’re gonna make us” the leader called out.  
“Yeah, something like that” you said quietly. You dropped a smoke bomb, darting unseen towards the group and taking out two at the side, grabbing the girl’s bag in one hand and her wrist in the other, guiding her away from the group as the smoke cleared. “Go, no one’s gonna hurt you anymore. I’ll deal with this lot” you murmured into ear and she didn’t need to be told twice.  
Once the Purple Dragons could see again, they noticed two of their number were on the floor.  
“Alright, who wants to go next?” you asked, nonchalantly swinging one of your tonfa. As one, the group charged at you. You didn’t even flinch, just dodged a knife that was driven your way and slammed the hard metal bar of your weapon into his gut before bringing the handle up to slam into his head, knocking him out instantly. Next, you sent a head-height kick at another goon and sent him flying backwards into a wall where he crumpled to the floor. That left 2, the leader and one of his cronies who took one look at the gleaming metal in your hands and went running. That just left the leader.  
“I think I recognise you” he said as you circled each other.  
“I’m flattered, I thought all your victims were just faceless sources of money to you”  
“Oh they are, but you had some help if I recall. Shame you’re all alone this time, even if you do have some skills”  
“Yeah my boyfriend taught me those skills. You remember him, don’t you? He’s one of the guys who helped me when we first met”  
Raph took that as his cue, leaping down to land behind you with a growl. The man in front of you started to lose his confidence at that.  
“Ah I see you do remember him. I suppose I should thank you, if you hadn’t cornered me that night I never would have met the love of my life”, at this you pulled Raph towards you to kiss him, both you and he kept one eye on the gang member though. The sight of a girl kissing a giant turtle seemed to cow him even more. You turned back to him “however it remains that you’re a criminal, and what do we do with criminals, Raph?”  
“We pound ‘em, princess”  
“We pound them”  
You took a step towards the frightened man and he backed away. You were having none of that. He didn’t even have enough time to register your fist flying towards him before the full force of your upper body collided with his jaw via the solid metal tonfa in your handle.  
“When he wakes up he is gonna have one hell of a headache” Raph muttered, carelessly kicking the unconscious man.  
“Yeah, maybe kick him a little harder though, just to make sure he’ll really feel the bruises” you suggested. Raph gave you a wicked grin.  
“I always knew you were the perfect woman” he said, kicking the man’s side one final time. “By the way, you were amazing”  
“Thanks babe I learnt from the best”


	53. Brotherly Heart To Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Leo discuss our favourite hothead, and Leo learns some things about his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't part of my original plan but the scene came into my head and I had to write it and it slotted in quite nicely here. I've been trying to develop the relationships between the reader and the other characters recently because I don't think all the focus should be on Raph, one of things I love most about TMNT reader inserts is the idea of being a part of the family, developing unique relationships with all the characters not just the main romantic interest. I hope this helps do that while also providing some Raph feels. Hope you enjoy!

It was dark when you got into the lair, having been to see a movie with April. The common room was unusually quiet, just Mikey and Ice Cream Kitty playing some sort of card game.  
“Hey Mikey” you called, dropping your bag down by the sofa.  
“Hey Y/N”  
“Where is everyone?” you asked, looking round the empty lair.  
“Donnie’s in his lab, Leo’s in his room, Raph’s god knows where. Him and Leo have been fighting again”  
You sighed, honestly not surprised. “So Raph stormed out, huh?”  
“You know it”  
“Right, well I guess I’ll go see Leo. He’s always willing to talk even if my other half won’t”  
You headed up to the bedrooms, knocking tentatively on Leo’s door. “Leo? You in here?”  
“Yeah. Come in, Y/N”  
You entered to find Leo sat on the edge of his bed, polishing his katanas. “I heard you and Raph had a fight”  
“Yeah, shocking isn’t it. God, I can’t stand him sometimes”, he looked a little awkward suddenly, realising you might not want to hear him say stuff like that about Raph. “I mean, well, you know…”  
You shrugged, sitting next to him on the bed. “Yeah, I know. He’s a fighter, and he never stops”  
Leo looked at you, exhaustion clear in his face and voice. “How do you deal with it? You’re so full of joy and light and all he ever shows is rage and hate”  
You shrugged again, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “We balance each other out, I guess, round each other off. We’re each strong when the other’s weak”  
Leo snorted. “Yeah, only Raph just picks out other people’s weaknesses, he doesn’t show any himself. He’s too busy being angry to be vulnerable about anything”  
You looked at Leo, finally realising how differently you and he saw the hothead. “You really don’t see it, do you?” you asked, completely in awe at how Raph’s own brother could miss something that had always been clear to you.  
“See what?”  
“He’s not… He’s”, you tried to explain it, but the words weren’t easy to find. You sighed, throwing your head back in exasperation. Leo gave you a moment to collect your thoughts, interested in hearing what you had to say. “You think Raphael doesn’t show any vulnerability or emotional weakness because he finds it disgusting, and you think that because it’s what he wants you to think. Beneath it all he is riddled with self-doubt and fear. He needs someone to help him through all the self-loathing and to quieten the voice in the back of his head saying that he’s not enough. And I am honored every day to know that he let me in, I feel privileged because he allows me to be strong for him in a way that he never lets anyone else. And when you get past that, when you accept that most of the anger is really just fear and insecurity, you’re free to see this loyal, caring, passionate guy who deserves all the best in this world. Yeah, he’s a hothead, but he’s so much more than that. He’s… He’s so beautiful”  
“You really do love him, don’t you?” Leo said. You laughed a little.  
“Yeah, more than I know how to say”  
Leo looked at the overwhelming love you couldn’t keep off your face and felt a fleeting pang of jealousy. He wished someone would look like that while thinking about him. But the thought only lasted a moment, before he shoved it away. No, he wouldn’t allow himself to be jealous of Y/N and Raph’s relationship. He just wouldn’t. But he still had to know…  
“What’s that like?” he asked quietly. “What’s it like to love someone like that, to fall in love and have them love you back?”  
“It’s scary. You go from being just you to your entire existence, all of your happiness, resting on this other person. And you look at them and you see someone so beautiful, so overwhelmingly perfect, even with their flaws, that you hardly feel like you can take it. It’s the most intense feeling you could have and it’s almost painful. And then they look at you, and all the fear is worth it, because in their eyes you see exactly the same fear you feel but you also see the same adoration, the complete and utter obsession that you feel for them, and it’s all ok. Everything’s ok because they’re there”  
“That sounds nice” he murmured and you nodded.  
“Yeah, it’s amazing. Before Raph I was nothing, it’s like meeting him gave me a chance to finally exist”  
There was the faint sound of voices downstairs and you both knew Raph was back. You stood up, suddenly all breezy cheer, shrugging off the kind of spell you’d cast on yourself.  
“Well, that’s my cue. I guess I’ll go and see to my hothead significant other”, and with that you left, to go and be strong for the one who needed you. Leo stared at the door for a while after you were gone. How was it that he and Y/N looked at Raph and saw 2 very different people?  
Maybe he’d have to look a little closer in the future.


	54. Collapse

“Guys did you see the way I took out those bots!” you cried, recreating the moves you’d used only half an hour previously to take out some foot bots. This was not the first time in the past 30 minutes you’d asked the turtles if they’d seen you do so.  
“Yeah princess, we saw you” Raph said with a fond smile, placing a hand on your arm. The others were starting to grow a little tired of your excitement over a fairly minor success, but Raph was willing to let you relive the moment a little longer.  
“It was awesome!” you said, jumping up and down as you made your way through the sewers, overflowing with energy and adrenaline.  
“Of course it was awesome, I taught you it” Raph said, grabbing you by the waist and lifting you up, spinning you round.  
“That would explain why it was so violent” Donnie muttered.  
“My baby likes destroying stuff, what can I say” Raph said, putting you down but taking your hand as you walked side-by-side through the sewers.  
It was a jovial group which entered the lair that evening, you still riding on an adrenaline high as you skipped around Raph in a circle. He watched you for a moment before rolling his eyes and shoving you down onto the beanbag that you and he usually sat in together. “Alright Y/N, deep breaths, you’ll blow a fuse if you keep going at this level”  
“Says you” you said, dragging him down to join you.  
“Shut up” he said, but he was smiling and before you could respond he was kissing you.  
You pulled apart when you heard screams coming from the bedrooms, staring at each other in alarm.  
“That’s Mikey” Raph said, leaping to his feet and sprinting off, followed immediately by you. You met Donnie on your way, with Master Splinter emerging from the dojo as you approached Mikey’s door. Leo was already in Mikey’s room when you arrived, crouched by his brother’s side and trying to work out why Mikey was curled up and screaming in pain.  
“Get him to the lab, now” Donnie said, but no one needed to be told that. Leo and Raph scooped up their little brother, while you ran ahead with Donnie, finding Splinter already in the lab clearing the bed.  
Mikey was placed on the bed, screams dying down a bit now, but he was curled into a ball with his eyes screwed tightly shut.  
“Mikey, you need to talk to me or I can’t help you little brother” Donnie said, “what’s wrong?”  
You weren’t sure if Mikey replied, because in the gap between Donnie asking the question and Mikey saying anything, you started to feel a pain in your chest so bad that you forgot to breathe. It burnt, like a fire spreading through your organs, but it ached too, like cramps but in your chest. It felt like your insides were twisting together.  
“Raph” you gasped, grabbing for the edge of the desk and clutching it in an attempt to stay upright.  
“Y/N?”, Raph was instantly at your side, holding your arms to keep you upright “what’s wrong?”  
Even in the short amount of time since the pain started, it had spread so that it was now in your stomach as well as your chest. “Chest and stomach” you panted as you desperately tried to catch your breath.  
Donnie told Raph to sit you down and you felt yourself being guided into a chair. You screwed your eyes shut, fighting the unrelenting pain which was burning inside you, but losing. You were vaguely aware of Raph’s hand on your face and his panicked voice asking Donnie for answers, which the taller brother couldn’t provide.  
Then Donnie stopped talking mid-sentence.

Whatever was happening it took out Donnie next, cutting him off as he tried to comfort his terrified younger brother who was still groaning on the bed. Master Splinter stepped in then, but there was little he could do as his other two sons succumbed to the same thing.  
Leo and Raph fought it longer than the others, Leo trying to comfort Mikey as Master Splinter guided Donnie through breathing techniques which weren’t working and Raph was crouched in front of Y/N, stroking her cheek and trying to keep her with him. But they couldn’t fight it forever, giving in almost at the same time as they felt the same wave of pain sweep through their own bodies. Raph grabbed your hand as he doubled over and his cry of agony cut through your own pain and fear so that you could form one thought ‘I have to help him’. You slipped out of the chair to kneel on the ground beside him, ignoring the immense pain it caused you, and you pressed your forehead against his, clutching his hand tightly. He placed his hand behind your head, holding you close to him. “I love you” you whispered.  
“I love you too” he whispered back.  
You were blacking out now and you didn’t even resist as the blessed numbness of unconsciousness took away the pain.


	55. Poisoned

You awoke to the sound of chanting, the even sound of Splinter’s voice automatically calming you a little. Opening your eyes, you found yourself in the dojo, lying on a mat with a pillow under your head and a blanket draped over you. You groaned quietly as you stirred slightly and your entire body complained.  
“Y/N! You’re awake”, you looked over to see Casey scrambling over to kneel beside you. Without even thinking, you started to sit up, but Casey slammed his hands on your shoulders and held you on the mat. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Leo tried the same thing and he ended up screaming” Casey said, pointing over to Leo who was sat a short distance away, resting against the wall “if you’re desperate to sit up, you’re gonna need to do it slowly”  
“Casey, what’s going on?” you asked.  
“We’re still trying to work that out. With Donnie out of action, it’s kinda hard for us to work anything out for sure, but from the looks of things you were all exposed to some kind of poison”  
“Poison?”, you couldn’t remember being exposed to anything that might have been poisonous. “Are the others ok?”  
Casey gave you an apologetic look “We don’t know, we don’t know anything. Master Splinter’s been doing healing chants on you all for the past couple of hours, but we have no idea if it’s helping. Leo and Mikey have woken up, and now you, but Raph and Donnie are still out of it. April’s in the lab trying to do tests based on the notes Donnie wrote for in case he’s ever out of action, but it’s slow going”  
Casey helped you to sit up, inching you into an almost upright position agonisingly slowly to avoid causing you any pain, and eventually he had you leaning against the wall.  
Donnie woke up next, having to be physically restrained by his father from getting up and going to the lab, despite assurances from Leo that doing that was not a good idea. He had to settle for talking to April and giving her instructions in person.  
Raph woke up last. You were sat beside him, absentmindedly stroking the top of his head and panicking over why he hadn’t woken up yet. Then you head him groan and felt him shift beneath your hand, eyes finally opening. You moved your hands to hold him gently to the mat, knowing that his automatic response would be to bolt upright while he worked out what was going on. Right on cue, he tensed and pushed against your hands. “Hey, hey, easy Raph. Not so fast” you murmured and the sound of your voice blew away the last wisps of unconsciousness from him.  
“Y/N? Are you ok?” he asked, staring at your face. Evidently, you didn’t look any better than Raph, or indeed any other of the turtles, who all looked pale and drained.  
“None of us are ok, Raph. It looks like we’ve been poisoned”  
“Poisoned? When? How?”  
“April and Casey are working on answering those questions. Donnie woke up a little while ago so he’s been helping them interpret results but he’s not feeling any better than us so it’s slow going”  
Splinter had to help Raph sit up, you didn’t have the strength to do so, and now that everyone was awake you and the turtles put your minds to working out what might have happened.  
“Could it have been something to do with those foot bots?” you asked. Donnie shook his head.  
“I don’t think so, they didn’t seem to be any different to normal bots”  
“There’s nothing on the news about people being admitted to hospital with symptoms like ours so it’s probably not something we encountered in the street” Leo said.  
“It’s gotta be the sewers then” Mikey said. Upon hearing that, a look of realisation dawned on Raph’s face.  
“What is it?” you asked.  
“It’s probably nothing, but do you remember that weird smell in the sewers?”  
You shook your head, but Mikey started to nod. “Yeah, it wasn’t one of the normal nasty sewer smells”  
“And the air felt kinda thick for a while” Leo added “I just dismissed it”  
“Might be worth investigating” Donnie said, “we could send Casey and April with gas masks to find out”  
“Might as well, we don’t have anything else to go on”

April and Casey were geared up and given instructions as to where they might find this strange smell. They took gas syringes to collect samples for analysis and off they went. Then the waiting began.  
With April and Casey gone, any sense of movement in the lair died away. With you and the turtles confined to the dojo, too weak to even crawl more than a few meters, the only movement left was Splinter making healing tea and, once he’d brought you all the beverages, he sat still too. The silence was killing you. Fortunately, the Hamato family have a solution for situations like that.  
Splinter looked at the line of sick youths in front of him, all leaning against the wall because they couldn’t stay upright on their own. He took a seat in front of the line.  
“Legs crossed” he said, “eyes closed”  
This was a set of instructions familiar to all of you. They were words you’d all heard when you needed to calm down or focus. You weren’t as speedy to get into the position as usual, and only Leo and Donnie managed to actually sit up on their own without the help of the wall behind them.  
“Good. Now, hold hands” Splinter instructed. Without hesitation, you took Raph’s hand, who was sat on your right, and Mikey’s on your left. “Breathe. Focus on each breath and the feeling of your family whose hands you are holding”  
As one, you fell into the familiar rhythm of breathing which had been ingrained into you.  
“Think of nothing but my voice, your breathing, and the people around you. Individually you may be weak, but collectively you are strong. There is no obstacle that can stand in your way”  
The room fell silent; the 4 brothers, the human girl who had become one of them and their father/sensei meditating together, drawing strength from each other.  
When April and Casey returned they found you still like that, and once they entered you drew yourself out of the trance you’d fallen into, reenergised and determined.  
“Dudes, you were right” Casey cried as they walked through the door “there’s some funky stink in the sewers”  
“We followed it and the stuff just got thicker and thicker. There’s some sort of nursery filled with what looks like Venus fly traps and they were giving off the stuff in clouds”  
“Plant mutants. Why is it always plant mutants” Leo muttered “this stuff is even worse than those fear mushrooms”  
In your time with the turtles they’d told you about most of their past encounters with mutants, the foot etc. and the encounter with the fear mushrooms was one they had relayed to you with particular bitterness.  
“Did you get some of the stuff they were giving off?” Donnie asked, a scientist to the end.  
“Yeah, we got tanks of it” Casey confirmed.  
“Right, bring me my desk chair” the tallest turtle said.  
“Ummm, why?” Casey asked.  
“Because the tests that we need to do on that stuff are way beyond your level and I can’t walk. The desk chair has wheels”  
Casey huffed, not entirely happy with being commanded like a servant, but also willing to do literally anything to help his friends get better.  
“Great, now time for more waiting” Raph complained. You stifled a yawn.  
“I guess we could sleep” you suggested.  
“No. Until we know exactly the effect the poison has had on us we can’t risk going to sleep. We might not wake up” Leo said. You looked to Raph, the severity of the situation settling over you.  
“Alright Leo, you make a fair point” you said, resting your head on Raph’s shoulder. “But, just for the record, if D can’t come up with an antidote or something, I’m so glad I got to know you guys. You’re the best family a girl could ask for and I love each one of you”  
“We’re not gonna die, princess. If the grim reaper comes for us I’ll kick his butt all the way to hell” Raph said, kissing your head.  
“While I agree with Raph, for the record, we love you too” Leo said.  
“Yeah, you’ve made life down here a lot more fun” Mikey said.

Donnie, even weakened by poison, is no slow worker. It didn’t take him long at all to match up the substance in the gas April and Casey had collected with the element which was in your blood in extreme levels, and it didn’t take a genius to work out that that was what was causing everyone problems. But he couldn’t create a cure from the gas, there just wasn’t a high enough concentration for him to distill and then reverse engineer a fully functioning antidote for everyone. The best he could get was a temporary treatment which would mask the symptoms. He did this and Casey and April wheeled him back to the dojo.  
“Alright, I’ve created a temporary treatment” he announced upon entering the room “but to create a full cure I’ll need samples from some of those plants. I can give a dose of this to whoever’s going to get it, but I only have enough for 2 doses and it will only last 2 hours, tops, probably closer to 1”  
“And if we don’t get the stuff in time?” Leo asked.  
“Then there won’t be enough time to reverse engineer a cure and our bodies will lose their fight against the poison, shutting down. We’ll drift into comas and never wake up”  
There was a grave silence for a moment before Leo’s face set into determined lines. “Well then, we’ll just have to be quick enough, won’t we”


	56. Antidote

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should be revising. I should really be revising. I'm only half way through my A level exams.  
> But I'm not.  
> INSTEAD I have edited this. Procrastination is a wonderful thing. Who needs to know about Martin Luther and the German Reformation when you can have Raphael reader inserts?

“Who gets to go?” Raph asked.  
“Mikey and Y/N” Donnie said.  
“What? Me?” you asked. “That doesn’t seem right”  
“Leo and I are the strongest, we should go” Raph argued.  
“Exactly, you’re the strongest so you can fight off the poison longest. I need to be here to prepare everything for when they get back so I can’t go and if you go then you won’t have long before Y/N and Mikey’s systems start to shut down. If we give them the treatments then they have longer than if you and Leo got them. Sorry, Raph, but this just makes the most sense”  
“If Donnie says Mikey and Y/N get them then that’s what’s happening” Leo decreed.  
There was no time to lose. Still in a daze, you and Mikey were injected with the temporary antidote, equipped with gas masks to prevent further exposure and given instructions about what D needed. Before you left, you grabbed a brief moment with Raph, throwing your arms around him and hugging tightly.  
“We’ll be back as soon as possible” you said, holding him tightly, scared it was your last chance, “you just gotta stay awake until we get back, ok”  
“I know, princess” he murmured into your hair “I’ll be fine. With you on the case, how can this possibly fail” he said with a grin. “Now go, go save our lives”  
You clutched him even tighter. “I love you, Raph”  
“I love you too, Y/N. Now go”  
And with that you left, following April and Casey through the sewers to the spot where they found the mutants. You knew you were approaching it without needing to be told. The air felt thicker and there was a thickening fog. By the time you reached the plants, there was a thick green fog which made it difficult to see.  
“Ok so Donnie said he needs the head of one of the plants” Casey said as you approached.  
“Shouldn’t be too hard, right” you said.  
“Don’t curse it” April muttered. You entered the room taken over by the fly traps and found yourself surrounded by plants, some were small but others towered over you, and all of them seemed to sway in a non-existent breeze.  
“Ok, this is weird. Would someone just grab a plant so we can leave” You said, feeling eerily like you were being watched. Mikey seemed to be in agreement because he’d already selected a plant and was carefully cutting the trap off one of the stalks, holding his breath despite the gas mask. As he cut, the other plants seemed to sway more violently, starting to bend towards the group.  
“Ummm Mikey, do you wanna work a little faster?” Casey asked, a note of warning in his voice.  
“I’m working as fast as I can but this thing is tough” the turtle snapped back.  
The green fog visibly thickened as the plants pumped out their poison at a dramatically increased rate.  
“Got it!” Mikey cried, shoving the trap into the airtight bag Donnie had given him.  
“Let’s go” April said, but everyone was already half-way to the tunnel that led home. But the plants weren’t giving up on their meal that easily. Two of the larger plants which were either side of the tunnel entrance swung across the opening, traps opening wide to form a wall.  
“I hate plant mutants!” Casey yelled, grabbing an explosive puck and hitting it into one of the traps. It shriveled and shrank away, but went back into place before anyone could get through the opening.  
“Oh, shell no! I’m not going out because of some overgrown weeds” Mikey yelled, unleashing a barrage of shuriken at the plants, followed up with a flying kick. However, as his foot connected with the plant it snapped shut on his leg like a vice.  
“Casey, some electricity might help right now” you suggested, grabbing the trap and trying to prize it open but making no impact.  
“Alright, stand back Y/N, and Mikey, umm, hang in there”  
“Dude!” Mikey yelled.  
It turns out that mutant plants are vulnerable to intense jolts of electricity at their bases. All it took was one zap from Casey and the plant let Mikey go, falling into your arms. In the brief window of opportunity, the 4 of you sprinted into the tunnel and didn’t stop running until you were approaching the lair, at which point you and Mikey started to lag behind. The treatment was starting to wear off and you could feel the intense stomach cramps setting in again. Mikey thrust the bag containing the plant head and April and told the two humans to keep running.  
By the time you and Mikey limped into the lair, leaning on each other for support as the pain in your chests started to become a serious problem, Donnie was already working on the antidote, helped by April and Casey. You and Mikey headed to the dojo.  
Raph and Leo were barely conscious, lying on the floor with Master Splinter chanting over them. You fell to your knees and crawled across the room, finally collapsing when you reached Raph’s side. “We did it, babe. We got the plant” you said.  
“I knew you’d do it” he muttered, eyes half closed.  
“You just gotta stay awake a little longer. That’s all” you murmured, pulling him into your arms so that the two of you were curled up together, both trying to pretend you didn’t feel the pain which threatened to overwhelm you.

 

Say what you will about Donatello, but he is incredible at what he does. Despite the pain he couldn’t fight, despite the fear of the consequences of failure, and despite the numbing hand of unconsciousness determined to take him into blackness, he managed to stay awake and focused long enough to get the cure all but finished, finally giving up on consciousness when he knew that April and Casey could do the rest. He rested his head on the desk and closed his eyes, wishing away the pain. The next thing he was aware of was voices.  
“Did it work?”  
“I don’t know”  
“He’s not waking up!”  
“Give him time, it won’t work immediately”  
The voices became clearer as he slowly started to regain awareness, forcing his eyes open despite the bright lights.  
“Donnie! It worked! Thank god” April cried, throwing her arms around him. Everything came rushing back in an instant.  
“The others?” he asked, gingerly pushing himself up from where he was hunched over the desk.  
“Splinter’s with them, they should be waking up round about now” Casey replied. Donnie stumbled through to the dojo, not allowing to let himself rest until he knew his work was done. To his relief, he found Mikey sitting up and rubbing his face and Y/N kneeling over a semi-conscious Raphael, while Splinter helped the newly awoken Leo to sit up.  
They were alive. Relief rushed through his system and he sank to his knees. Y/N looked up at him and smiled, glancing back to Raph for a moment to check that he was ok before crawling over to kneel beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder.  
“You did it, D, you saved us”, and with that she pulled him into a hug, trying to show him how grateful she was when words couldn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I know these past few chapters have been serious, as a reward the next bunch are gonna be pure fun and fluff. So that's something to look forward to.


	57. Holiday!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My family are all upstairs and so I am alone. I've had 2 and a half cans of cider and so I am mildly drunk. My A level exams finished a week and a half ago. I'm watching TMNT 2016, Out of the Shadows. I'm wearing the TMNT onesie my friends got me for my 18th birthday.  
> What else was I supposed to do but post an update?

It didn’t take long for you all to recover entirely and life went back to normal. That didn’t seem right to you. You and the turtles had nearly died, something you certainly weren’t going to forget in a hurry. But that was just how things worked in this family, nearly dying was such a regular occurrence that you had to move on immediately or you’d never move on at all. That didn’t seem quite right with you. So, you hatched a plan, passing it by Splinter to make sure it was ok before going ahead and making arrangements. A week before, you made the announcement.  
The turtles had kind of become used to your announcements. You’d stand in the common room and bellow ‘ANNOUNCMENT’ until the family gathered.  
“What’s this announcement, then?” Leo asked.  
“I don’t know if you noticed, but a couple of weeks ago we all nearly died”  
“Yeah, we noticed” Donnie muttered.  
“Well, because of that, and all the other insane stresses we encounter, I thought we could all do with a holiday”  
“Well that would be lovely, princess, but where the hell could you take a family of mutants?” Raph asked, eye ridge raised. You matched his look exactly and stared him down for a moment, before opening your laptop up to a picture of a house in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields and not a single other building in sight.  
“You ask a good question, but you’re forgetting one thing, I’m fricking amazing” you said, “this is a holiday cottage and I’ve booked it for 1 week, next week. The back garden is surrounded by farmland, so unless you’re worried about being seen by cows then you’re safe to do whatever the shell you want there and no one’ll know anything’s even a little bit off. There’s hardly anything else round there so even if you do go out the front, there won’t be anyone to see you. Master Splinter is coming”, you gestured to the giant rat who nodded once, “as are April and Casey. Most of us will have to share rooms but I’m sure that’ll be fine. We don’t need to go anywhere or do anything, we’re just going to spend a week in the sun and not worry about anything”  
The turtles stared at you in utter amazement. They’d never even considered going on vacation, and here you were telling them it was about to happen.  
“Hello? Guys? You heard all that, right?” you asked, traces of laughter in your voice as the brothers stared at you in mild disbelief.  
“We heard, we just…” Leo said, still staring at the picture on your laptop screen.  
“It’s a completely alien concept to us” Donnie finished for him.  
“But it’s good, right?” you asked, starting to feel a little worried.  
“Good? It’s amazing!” Mikey cried, throwing his arms around you, “we can eat ice cream and play games and have picnics and sunbathe! I’m gonna go and pack right now!”  
“There’s still a week before we’re going, Mikey. We don’t need to pack yet”  
He didn’t hear you, or rather he elected not to, as he hurried off to his room.  
“Do you like my surprise?” You asked Raph as the others dispersed.  
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you’re a freaking genius” he said, planting a kiss on your lips, “like I’m pretty sure you rival Donnie levels of intelligence”  
“I just want to make my boys happy” you reply.

 

A week passed quickly and you soon found yourself caught up in a frenzy of excitement, looking forward to the upcoming vacation almost as much as the turtles. Splinter tried to hide it, but he couldn’t quite conceal his delight at the chance to go on holiday again for the first time in a very long time. The holiday house was a fair drive away and so when the Saturday of your departure came around everyone was up early. April and Casey arrived at the lair with their bags and you bundled into the party wagon, April and Casey at the front so that if anyone looked in they only saw two humans. You and Raph sat behind them because you were the one with all the directions and information.  
It was an unusual experience, being bundled into a hippie van with the whole of your weird family, including Splinter who you didn’t think you’d ever seen outside the lair, the pets were there too, Ice Cream Kitty in his cool box and Chompy crawling over everyone. You made it outside the city in relative order and quiet, but once the last of the buildings were behind you true road trip rules took over.  
“Can we have some music?” Mikey’s voice piped up from the very back.  
“Sure, as long as I get to choose” Casey said.  
“But you’ll choose something so loud and noisy that we can’t actually have a real conversation” April complained.  
“Your point?” Casey asked.  
“While I’m all down for a little horrendously loud, banging music in the correct scenario, it’s waaay to early in the day for that, it’ll just give everyone a headache” you argued.  
“We could listen to the space heroes soundtrack” Leo suggested, producing the CD.  
“Don’t even try it” Raph warned. Leo hastily put the CD away.  
“What about an audio book?” Donnie suggested.  
“What, are we six?” Casey asked and Raph gave a derisive snort.  
“it was just an idea…” Donnie muttered.  
“Well we can’t just sit around in silence!” Mikey complained.  
“Fine! Whatever crap is on the radio it is then” Casey declared, putting an end to the debate. The crap on the radio ended up being some ‘flashback’ music show with loads of hits from 10 years previously not old enough to be anything but cheesy yet. That seemed to satisfy everyone for a while, but as the scenery passed by it quickly lost its appeal and became samey and boring. The inevitable car journey boredom set in.  
“I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…”, Donnie’s voice piped up.  
“I spy! Seriously?” Mikey asked.  
“What’s wrong with I spy?” the purple-clad turtle asked.  
“Everything is wrong with I spy” Splinter told him, “it is an arduous game of no skill or entertainment”  
“Wow, sensei, wasn’t expecting you to have such strong opinions on I spy” you said with a grin. The rat shrugged. “Is it just that game in particular, or is it all car games?”  
“I have no objection to other forms of travelling entertainment”  
“Alright, I hear with my little ear”, Raph began, smirking.  
“No! I do not care what your senses pick up!” Splinter snapped and you couldn’t help but laugh, earning you a glare from your sensei and a grin from your boyfriend.  
“Alright, alright. How about the alphabet game?” you suggested.  
“What’s that?” Mikey asked.  
“You pick a theme or criteria and you have to come up with an example beginning with each letter of the alphabet. So, for example, we could do mutants we’ve encountered. I’ll start us off with April for A. Now we need one that starts with B”  
“Bebop!”  
“Chris Bradford” Leo suggested for C.  
“Ah but does Christ Bradford go under R for Rahzar instead?” you countered.  
“Well you come up with one for C then” Leo replied.  
There was silence for along moment until Mikey, who really should be good at this since he named most of the damn things, piped up. “Creepweed!”  
Raph shuddered, “Eugh, that thing gives me the creeps”  
“Hence the name” you replied, “Creepweed is allowed, now for D”  
“Me!” Donnie cried.  
“Me begins with M, dude” Casey countered.  
“Shut up, Casey” Donnie replied.  
“No, he’s right D, me does begin with M”  
Before Donatello could even scream his own name in reply, Splinter’s voice from the back of the van sounded it for him. “Donatello” the rat said. Donnie looked a little insulted, having wanted to enter himself onto the list. Splinter shrugged. “I named you, I get to call it”


	58. Lost

Quite incredibly, between the 8 of you, you managed to come up with a mutant for each letter of the alphabet, even if some of the choices were questionable in that some were aliens and most of the car was pretty sure Mikey had dreamed up a couple, by which point Leo had fallen asleep, Splinter was reading a book and April had put her headphones in. You did a couple more themes before interest in the game fizzled out. Casey suggested a few word games, which you dutifully joined in on even though by the end it was really just you and Casey playing. You delved a hand into your bag, producing a packet of sweets and munching on them as the van fell into silence, the only noises the radio and April humming along to her headphones. You didn’t even notice yourself falling asleep, lulled into unconsciousness by the warmth of the bodies around you and the movement of the van. Raph took the sweets from your hand before they fell and shoved them back in your bag, accepting the fact that he was now your pillow.  
They didn’t wake you up until they were lost.  
They’d tried to make their way to your destination, but a couple of wrong turns later and no one had any idea where they were or where they were going. You opened your eyes when you heard the increasingly agitated voice of Casey.  
“Look we’re gonna have to wake her up, she’s the only one who knows where we’re going”  
“She’s knackered, Casey, she’s been stressed as hell about this holiday. We can fix this ourselves” Raph’s voice replied. You shifted and rubbed your eyes, hauling yourself back to the waking world.  
“What are you boys bickering about?” you mumbled.  
“Casey got us lost” Donnie snapped from somewhere behind you.  
“Don’t pin this on me! You said you knew the way!”  
“Who said?” April asked.  
“I don’t know. I asked which way it was but Y/N was asleep and someone said left so I went left”  
“Alright, alright, I’m awake now. Just how lost are we?”  
“Well I don’t know where we’re going and I don’t know where we are”  
You glanced out of the window, half-hoping that there would be something to tell you where you were. No such luck. “Alright, and how long have we been lost for?”  
“About 30 minutes, maybe closer to 50” April replied.  
“And no one thought to wake me up?”  
“We thought we could fix it ourselves. Then we realised we only had a vague idea where we were going. Then we realised we only had a vague idea where we were. Then we didn’t want to admit we were lost” Leo told you.  
“Yeah, and Raph wouldn’t let us wake you up” Mikey said.  
“Well ya looked so peaceful” Raph explained. You turned to Splinter, usually the voice of reason in any and every situation.  
“Sensei, didn’t you try to stop them or something?”  
“He was the one who said left” Leo muttered. You rolled your eyes. Splinter shrugged.  
“It seemed a good guess at the time”  
You despaired at the group of idiots you had decided to take on holiday. “Right, well we gotta figure this out. Casey, pull over, if you keep driving we’ll only get more lost. Someone get google maps up so we can work out where we are”  
The van went silent for a moment and then everyone moved at once; Donnie face palmed, Leo tried to look anywhere but at you, Mikey blinked slowly, Raph suddenly found his hands very interesting, Casey bashed his face on the steering wheel and April started hitting her forehead repeatedly with her palm. “What?” you asked.  
“We didn’t think of google maps” Leo groaned.

 

Now that google maps had been sourced, you managed to get the holiday back on track fairly easily, navigated Casey through every single turn, irritating him greatly but he knew that if he complained then he didn’t really have a leg to stand on. You didn’t stop with the oversimplified instructions into the house came into view, a picturesque white house on top of a small hill surrounded by grass and trees. Casey drove the party wagon up the farm track to the house and pulled up next to the yellow front door. The group flooded out of the car, desperate to bagsy the best bedrooms for themselves. You already knew which one you wanted, and you were damned if you were letting anyone else get it. While everyone was taking in the house, evaluating each room, you sprinted through, glancing briefly in each room to find out if it was the right one. The last room, at the far end of the house, was the one you’d been looking for. King-size bed, purple wallpaper on one wall with trees on it, built in wardrobes either side of the bed, the other walls painted pale green, low and wide windowsill perfect for relaxing on, view over the hills. Yes, this was the one.  
The room next to yours and Raph’s had bunk beds in it and that’s where Mikey and Casey ended up, with April in the double room next door along. After that was a small sitting room, off which was a room with twin beds which Leo and Donnie got, and down another corridor was the final double room with Splinter. Apart from that there were 2 bathrooms, a large kitchen/dining room and a large sitting room. Out the front of the house was a large lawn, with a similar one to the back, but to the side was a small orchard next to an area dominated by a rabbit warren and beyond that was a more unkempt area with long grass and rogue bushes.  
It wasn’t a 5-star hotel, there were no chocolates on the pillows or other people making your meals, but it was quiet and private and it was new. Finally there, you could let go and relax. No aliens, no mutants (well, other than the ones you’d brought), no foot clan or vengeful enemies. Peace and quiet and a chance to be a family.  
This was going to be a good week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've based the holiday house off my family's holdiay home that we rent out, with a couple of adaptations. I'm gonna try to paint a decent picture of the layout and stuff but my descriptive skills may not be up to the task, but hey I don't think it really matters all that much.  
> My father is an author and we were at the house the other day, cleaning it in preparation for people to come in, and he told me that it was where something in one of his books had happened (he talks about events in his books like real events becuase he sets them in places based off real ones) but I had to inform him that he was wrong because it was actualy where the TMNT went on holidy.


	59. Frisbee

There was a group effort to unpack underway, you were in the kitchen unpacking the food you’d brought with Mikey and Splinter, Raph and Donnie were ferrying bags through the house to where their owners would be sleeping while Casey and Leo were unloading everything from the van and April was sorting through the various games and entertainments you’d brought. You were installing Ice Cream Kitty in the freezer to regain some structural integrity when you heard joyous yelling outside. Looking up, you were just in time to see a brightly coloured plastic disk fly past the window.  
“Looks like they found the frisbee” you remarked, tickling Ice Cream Kitty before closing the freezer door. The colourful disk of plastic flew back past the window, followed by Leo dashing after it and yelling. The Frisbee was making its 3rd trip past the window when it halted mid-air and changed direction entirely. You could make out Casey and Leo yelling April’s name in annoyance. Donnie and Raph made their way back through the kitchen as you watched this unfold, intending to get more bags but when they didn’t return instantly you figured they’d been sucked into what was now becoming a full-scale game.  
You and Mikey followed the sound of laughter with Splinter only a few steps behind. You narrowly avoided being hit by the flying circle of plastic as you stepped out the front door, ducking out of the way and watching it fly harmlessly by only to halt in mid-air again and fly to April’s hand.  
“Come on April! Play fair!” Donnie cried.  
“Yeah, no powers!” Raph protested.  
“They are right, it is an unfair advantage” Splinter said, tail darting out to pluck the frisbee from April’s hand and send it flying towards the slightly startled Casey, who barely had time to catch it.  
“No tails either, sensei” Leo decreed.  
“No use of mutations at all” Casey said, “it puts Y/N and me at a disadvantage, we can’t help that we’re the only ones who aren’t freaks here”  
“I could probably get my hands on some mutagen for you when we get home if you’d like, Jones” Donnie suggested.  
“No way, I ain’t letting that stuff anywhere near me” Casey said, throwing the frisbee at Donnie in response.  
“Why not, you can’t get any uglier” you goaded him, causing Donnie to laugh and Casey to huff.  
“I thought you were on my side!”  
“Whatever gave you that idea?” you asked, plucking the frisbee out of the air as it sailed past you and nonchalantly throwing it to Mikey.  
The rules of your game hadn’t been set out before you started but it seemed to be the general consensus that dropping the toy was losing, although how one won wasn’t entirely clear. Despite the hazy rule situation, alliances were starting to form.  
It started when Leo leapt onto Donnie’s shoulders to intercept a shot which was supposed to go sailing over the taller brother’s head and land somewhere between Mikey and Splinter, and from that moment onwards Leo and Donnie were a team. April and Splinter then united to form an unstoppable unit towards the tree line while you and Raph developed the technique of him picking you up so that you could catch rogue throws and throw it where no one else was standing. Mikey and Casey, who were left as the only 2 not yet in a team joined forces. They favoured distraction, one of them pretending to throw it to the other before changing last second and throwing it elsewhere.  
Somewhere along the line it became clear that dropping it wasn’t losing, rather throwing it so that it was dropped or never caught was winning. As such, everyone was desperately trying to throw it where no one was or could get to fast enough. However, these were ninjas playing so the areas where no one was or could get to fast enough were few and far between. The only way this was ever going to end was in disaster.  
The proof of that statement happened almost in slow motion. You felt Raph’s hands on your waist before you’d even located the frisbee, allowing yourself to be lifted and trusting you’d catch it in time. Unfortunately, Leo and Donnie had the same idea. Donnie yelled Leo’s name, offering his hands as a boost for his brother who leapt into the air, catching the frisbee before you even got the chance. However, where you had Raph’s hands to get you down safe Leo had nothing and he found himself perilously close to you and Raph while still in mid-air. Raph acted lightning-fast, letting go so that you went into controlled freefall only to be caught a second later with a scream as Raph threw you and himself out of the way just in time for Leo to land.  
“Watch where you’re going Leo!” Raph snapped.  
“I could say the same thing to you” Leo shot back.  
“Raph did watch where he was going, that’s why you didn’t end up squashing me” you retorted.  
“The important thing is no one was hurt” Splinter intersected, trying to calm the tension before it became a full argument “perhaps we should stop”  
Your and Raph’s eyes met, looking from each other to Leo and Donnie. You nodded to your boyfriend, a tiny movement but he knew what it meant. Raph fell into a roll, snatching the frisbee from Leo’s hand and popping up behind him, throwing it over his brothers’ heads to you.  
“We will never surrender!” you yelled. Splinter sighed, trying to look exasperated but the attempt failed completely when the frisbee flew by him and his hand darted out to grab it.  
“In which case, I suggest you go long” he said with narrowed eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm off on holiday for a week tomorrow so there'll be no upates in that time. I won't have my laptop to write anything new on but I'm taking my planning sheets and some notebooks so hopefully I'll get something done on this.


	60. Late Night Chats

The sun had long-since disappeared, being replaced by a crystal-clear night sky and a bright crescent moon. It had been a long day and minds were starting to turn towards sleep. You wandered through the house to your room, expecting to find Raph there or at least encounter him on your way since he hadn’t been with you curled up on the sofas, but no such luck. You knocked on the door of the room next to yours.  
“Enter” Mikey’s voice sounded and you pushed open the door.  
“Hey, have either of you seen Raph?” you asked. Mikey shook his head.  
“He headed out to the garden a while ago, he might still be there” Casey said, his torso hanging out from the top of the bunkbeds.  
“What’s he doing out there?” you asked. Casey shrugged, although the movement looked pretty unnatural since he was upside down.  
“How should I know?”  
“Good point. Thanks guys, g’night”  
“Night, Y/N” Mikey called after you as you shut the door.  
There was no need for you to make your way back through the house to the front door, the back door was right by your bedroom so you turned the key, pulled back the bolt and slipped outside.  
As soon as you stepped outside the quiet hit you like a wall. No, less abrupt than that, the quiet wrapped around you like a blanket. You were used to the noise of New York, you’d learnt to file it all away as background noise. And you were used to the outside being lit by artificial light. The city smelled of dirt and pollution. But when you stepped outside there was none of that. It had been quiet and still during the day, but at night it was almost overwhelmingly so. The air was cold and clean, it felt pure in your lungs and one breath in seemed to cleanse your body. The vague scent of the wildflowers filling the garden combined with that of the earth in the surrounding fields lingered in your nostrils. You could barely see anything and once you wandered away from the house you knew that would dwindle to nothing.  
Pulling out your phone you turned on the torch, navigating your way down a grassy slope to emerge onto the lawn in front of the house.  
“Raph? You out here?”  
Your voice was swallowed up by the blackness but you were unwilling to speak any louder, not wanting to disturb the quiet. You ventured a little further across the lawn. “Raph?”  
“Over here, Y/N”  
You angled your light towards the voice and could just about make out a shape sat in the grass further down the garden. You walked towards it, the shape forming into that of Raph.  
“What are you doing out here?” you asked.  
“Looking”  
“At what?”  
He pointed up at the sky and you followed his finger, gazing up at the inky blackness. You’d not been outside the city in a long time, not since you were a small child. The stars dotted the sky like jewels, so far away that it almost made you dizzy. You sat down next to Raph, not taking your eyes from the sky.  
“I’d almost forgotten what it looked like” you whispered. “The city lights drown it all out…”  
Raph put his arm around you, pulling you to lean against him. “The only other time I’ve been outside the city was when the kraang took it”, you flinched at the memory, the invasion wasn’t something either of you liked remembering. “It was different then. I had all this worry and fear, didn’t seem much point looking up at the sky and findin’ it beautiful. I looked up and it made me angry, ‘cause it reminded me I wasn’t at home where I should be. But now…”  
“It’s different now. We don’t need to worry”  
“Exactly. It’s so beautiful, a thousand moments so far away”  
“Not so far away for you” you said, looking at him, “what’s it like up there?”  
Raph took a moment to respond. “It’s… It’s nothing like this. It’s dangerous, there are so many things that can go wrong. And they normally do. I hated it. I was taken away from everything that I loved, it had all gone so badly wrong. The world had been destroyed and we had to save it. Hell, you’d been destroyed and I didn’t even know, didn’t know I needed to care”  
You pressed closer into him. “I can’t believe you saw us all die”  
“Neither can I, princess”  
“Was it really as bad as all that up there?”  
Raph went quiet. You didn’t like it. “Raph?”  
“Mostly it was, but it wasn’t all bad”  
“What was good?”  
You could feel him shake his head. “Nothing’, princess”  
You pulled away, looking at him. “You’re keeping something from me and I don’t like it”  
He looked at you and you could just about make out his expression in the moonlight, conflict showing clearly on his face. “I don’t know if you wanna know”  
“Come on Raph, you can tell me anything”  
“Alright, but don’t be mad. There was this girl, an alien. She was… She was amazing, like no one I’d met before. And she liked me, she loved me, and…”  
He stopped and you could feel his tension. “Go on, it’s ok”, you put your hand on his arm, rubbing your thumb over his rough skin.  
“And I loved her back”, he paused as if waiting for your reaction. You couldn’t say you’d ever considered the idea of there having been someone before you, and you knew that was what was making him nervous.  
“Tell me about her” you murmured, letting your head fall back onto his shoulder.  
“I dunno what to tell. I barely knew her really, we made a connection but I never got to get to know her, never had the chance. She was nothing like you, and what I had with her was nothing like what we have. She was a warrior, that was all I knew her as. We met fighting and every time we met there was a fight. And then she was gone, whisked away by the stars”  
“You’re allowed to have loved her you know. It’s alright”  
“Really?”  
“Of course”, you laughed a little, nuzzling your face into his neck, “she’s a part of you. And I love you, all of you, and that’s what matters. You loved her and now you love me and the stars are beautiful and that’s how it is”  
“I do love you, I love you so much”  
The two of you were quiet for a moment then Raph spoke again. “Y/N”  
“Mm?”  
“Thank you for doing this, for bringing us here”  
You smiled. “You don’t need to thank me, Raph. You guys are my family, and this is what you do with your family. If anything, I should be thanking you, for letting me be a part of it”  
“You were always gonna be a part of it, I can’t imagine this group without you. You were the one thing life was missing”  
After that you kissed him, his hands going to your waist as yours landed on his shoulders. The conversation had been deep and intense and you both felt vulnerable after it, so you sank into each other’s arms easily, seeking the closeness and warmth it brought. After a while you got up, leading Raph back to the house by the light of your phone. You locked the door behind you, slipping into your bedroom and into the double bed. At home you and Raph had separate rooms, partly because the relationship had still been relatively new when you moved in and partly because of practicality, the rooms available just weren’t big enough for 2 people as they were. It felt good to be sharing a double bed with him, being able to curl up with him and fall asleep without being cramped onto a single bed. You could get used to it, you thought, as you drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure which I like more, big funny group chapters or these more intimate one-on-ones. I prefer to write intimate chats like these but reading back I always enjoy the group ones more. What do you guys think?  
> I have no real reason for asking, I'm just curious.
> 
> Also, as far as Mona Lisa goes I have no real love for her. I used to really like her but not now, but I felt that she deserved a mention here. I'm unlikely to bring her up again, but I feel like mentioning her has cleared the air.


	61. Round 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a little carried away with this one...  
> So have 3,500 words of update!

You and Splinter had won the last water fight, although there had been some debate over the legitimacy of your strategy of pulling Splinter into the fight when he’d opted out. You had quashed these criticisms by explaining that there were no rules in war. Donnie tried to argue this point but you ignored him.  
I wouldn’t say that the others held grudges or were sore losers, but when they saw that you’d packed the water guns they had all started forming plans and considering alliances. The day after you arrived at the holiday house was a hot one, scorching, and it seemed to be as good a time as any for round 2. Nothing was said on the subject, but everyone knew. Under the guise of exploring the gardens some of the group had gone off to scout the terrain. Everyone reconvened for lunch.  
“It really is boiling, isn’t it” Leo remarked.  
“Yeah, we need some way to cool off” April replied.  
“Say Y/N, I noticed you brought the water guns…” Donnie said, trying to sound casual as he pushed some food around his plate, but completely failing.  
“That is correct” you replied with a grin. There was a tense silence, everyone looking to you. “I don’t know why you’re looking at me, I’m not in charge here” you said.  
“You planned the holiday, you bought the guns, you brought the guns. You are in charge” Raph informed you. This wasn’t actually news to you, you’d just needed official permission to mess up the rest of their day.  
“In that case, yes we are having a water fight this afternoon”, this led to a small babble of talk but when everyone realised you still had something to say they silenced, “However, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as fun if it was the same style as last time. Last time was a free-for-all, this time will be slightly different”  
No one liked the sound of that, especially not Raph who knew you better than anyone else and knew you had a slightly sadistic side.  
“Different how?” Leo asked.  
“Well we’re in this wonderful place, it would seem a shame to waste such a golden opportunity. And don’t you think it was so boring last time when we all had the same weapons throughout” – no one had thought it was boring and you knew it - “well I thought that we could mix things up a bit. You may have noticed that the bag of water guns is significantly fuller than it was last time, and a little more varied. I thought that everyone could be given a selection of full guns of different types and we would then each hide them around the garden. That way you can run for your guns but someone else might find them first. Same with water balloons. There are some other rules but I will explain those right before we start”  
After lunch, there was a group effort to fill all of the many guns and balloons, using all taps available in the house. Once that was done everyone reconvened outside the front door, including Splinter who felt the need to defend his title as joint winner of the last battle. You had changed into shorts and a vest-top to deal with the stifling heat and to provide freer movement when running away, with a small bag slung across your body, the strap of which had been converted to hold guns if needed.  
You addressed the group. “Everyone now gets one super soaker, 2 smaller guns and 5 tiny guns as well as a bag of water balloons” you said, gesturing to the piles in front of you. “In a moment you will gather your supplies and then we will have 5 minutes in which to hide our weapons before we meet back here. If anyone is discovered to still have any of their weapons on them when they return, or if they do not return within the time then they will forfeit their starting ammo, which will be handed out once you return, and will have to begin the fight with absolutely nothing”  
“How do we know when the time’s up?” Casey asked.  
“I’ve already hidden my stuff so I’ll be stood here with my handy megaphone” you said, waving said item “I will give you regular time updates. Understood?”  
The group nodded.  
“Alright then. One super soaker, 2 pistols and 5 tiny guns each”, there was a scramble to collect the items. The next 5 minutes were immensely amusing to you as you watched everyone run around in a panic, even Splinter seemed slightly alarmed at the time limit as he searched for the best hiding spots while trying not to be seen by anyone. When you called 30 seconds left there was a mad scramble, with almost everyone getting back inside the limit. However, there was one person missing when the alarm went off, with Casey stumbling in 10 seconds late. “Right, no starting ammo for Casey” you declared.  
“But, Y/N!” he protested.  
“This is war, Casey” you replied.  
There was a scuffle next to you and you turned to see Raph holding Mikey upside down.  
“Raph what the hell are you doing?” Donnie asked.  
“Raphael, put your brother down” Sensei ordered.  
“He’s smuggling weapons” Leo explained for Raph.  
“In that case, I will allow it” Splinter said. It didn’t take long for Mikey to give up the 2 tiny guns he’d smuggled inside his shell. Once Mikey was back on his feet and dizzy you picked up the weapons. “No starting ammo for Mikey either”  
You then explained the rest of the rules to the group. Everyone started with 2 tiny guns, apart from Casey and Mikey. Refilling was only allowed at the 2 outside taps, one by the front door and one by the garage which was locked but you had access to the tap on the external wall. There was no going inside the house allowed and no leaving the gardens. The winner would be determined in a similar way to last time, last man standing.

You regretted your own rules almost as soon as the game began.  
The group scattered, unloading the contents of their tiny starting guns as they did. You sprinted through the back garden and vaulted one of the fences which separated the tended lawn from the wild rabbit warren, throwing yourself into a bush and hoping no one knew where you were. You then began to crawl through the grass to the bottom of the slope you were on, breathing a sigh of relief when you reached the bottom and retrieved your trusty super-soaker from a rabbit hole, along with your bag of water balloons which you’d deposited in a patch of particularly thick grass.  
Rolling onto your back you lay flat while you fumbled with your belt, one you had adapted especially for this event, attaching the water balloons on special clips along both your sides. Once that was done you carefully crawled back up the bank, noting a few indignant and surprised voices as battle began somewhere else in the garden. When you reached the top, you peered through the line of trees dividing your current location from the small orchard by the house. Crouched under one of the trees, armed with the twin pistols you’d seen Donnie pick up earlier, was Michelangelo. Clearly, he hadn’t made his way to his own weapon stash yet but had stumbled across one of D’s. You smiled to yourself, partly because you were glad that your new rules had been effective in providing an unpredictable element to proceedings, but mostly because he hadn’t seen you and you were pretty certain you could drench him and get away without him ever knowing who had been there.  
Silent as a mouse, you crawled along so that you were positioned right behind him, aimed your super soaker at his back and pulled the trigger. Mikey yelped in surprise and you rolled yourself down the bank out of his view, crouching low and running along the fence marking the boundary of the garden towards a gate which marked your intended escape route.  
You’d almost made it, escape was in sight! You had started to plan your next step, picking out your route in the scrub area beyond. There was a flurry of movement, a dark shadow blocked out the sun’s glare for a second and before you could figure out what was happening there was a stream of freezing water in your face and one drenching your abdomen. You let out a startled scream but it was cut off as the water entered your mouth and you spluttered. A hand darted out and your beloved super soaker was snatched away before you could even clear the water from your eyes. By the time you’d recovered you saw the edge of Master Splinter’s robe disappearing back up the tree he’d dropped from before leaping away beyond your sight. You stood and dripped, taken completely by surprised and in a state of mild shock. That was when you noticed the pistol at your feet, one of the ones Splinter had used, now completely empty and abandoned in favour of your gun.  
You snatched it and continued your way, now a lot more careful of your surroundings, as you scrambled over the gate and into the area beyond. You found yourself faced with Casey and Leo, each sheltering behind a different bush and popping up to shoot each other. They hadn’t seen you yet and without a loaded gun you felt very exposed. They were also between you and your back up store of guns, your full twin pistols, and you didn’t fancy your chances getting past them. You took advantage of their distraction to sprint up the hill beside you, using the shadows cast by the trees to hide your movement.  
Your next obstacle was the large open area between you and the garage, your closest source of water, and on that open expanse was Raphael, stood with his back to the wall and bristling with more weapons than he’d been given. Raph had been a very busy boy. You thought over your options very carefully. Raph loved you, that much he had made very clear, and so the obvious choice would be to ask to team up with him and share his many weapons, taking advantage of his affection. However, you also knew that there was no way that would work. Raph loved you, yes, but that was exactly why he would hose you down upon sight. No, there was no chance of an alliance. Also, you were unwilling to let him see how low you had sunk after your victory last time. Alone, soaking wet, armed only with some water balloons, some very nearly empty tiny guns (you’d been foolish and used them on the group as soon as the battle had started) and an empty pistol. You were a sorry sight and he would laugh at you.  
No. You could not reason with him. Instead you pressed closer into the bush you were stood by and prayed he couldn’t see you. “Well you have done well haven’t you” you purred before darting silently to the other side of the bush. Raph looked up at your voice, creeping closer to investigate but very suspicious. He was right to be suspicious. You hurled a water balloon in Raph’s face and followed it up with the last dregs of water in your starter guns before sprinting past him while he was still recovering. Raph sent a jet of water after you, catching your back as the soaking figure of his girlfriend disappeared through a gate.  
Pursued by Raph you weren’t thinking properly as you ran around the corner and straight into April. You barely registered the impact just kept running as Raph followed you. April didn’t have time to deal with you as Raph showed up, soaking her on sight and receiving a jet of water in retaliation. You left them behind, staggering to a stop by the tap on the side of the garage and slamming it on, holding your pistol under the running water. You took this moment for a breather and looked upwards, stretching out your back. You were greeted by Donatello, crouching on the roof and aiming a tiny pistol that was clearly nearly empty at you.  
“Truce!” you yelled, dropping your gun so you could put your hands up.  
“What?”  
“I need help” you replied, picking up your pathetic pistol “and it looks like you do too. Truce. You cover me from up there while I reload then I’ll cover you?”  
“Why should I trust you?”  
“Because if you don’t then I will guard this tap with my life and you will never fill up that tiny weapon. You can’t go to the other tap because April and Raph are there. I’m probably the only person in this garden as poorly armed as you and you and I both know the rules. Last man standing, no weapon means no defense and you will lose. You don’t have a choice”  
Donnie was reluctant, but you were right. He sighed. “Fine, but be quick, it’s only a matter of time before someone else needs to come here and at that point we’re both screwed”  
You filled your gun up the rest of the way and then did your smallest guns, moving a few meters away to stand guard while Donnie filled up his. He had 7 tiny guns, all but one of which were empty. “I managed to stop off to get these but my pistols were gone when I reached them, I haven’t reached my super soaker or balloons yet” he explained.  
“Mikey’s got your pistols. I got my soaker and balloons, but Sensei ambushed me and took the gun. He dropped this as he left” you explained, your and Donnie’s faces were grave. This was no game, this was war and you both knew it. Donnie nodded.  
“My super soaker is hidden in a hollow in the scrub land. I covered it with grass so it’s unlikely to have been found. My balloons were in the back garden but I think I saw them hanging from Raphael’s belt earlier” Donnie explained.  
“Yeah he’s got more weapons than I could probably carry” you replied. “My pistols aren’t too far from your super soaker and my smaller ones are on the way. If we can make our way over there we might stand a chance at winning, or at least not losing as badly as we’re doing now”  
Donnie nodded and you could see how hard he was thinking. “We’ll have to get across the lawn though. There’s no covered way to do it, we’ll just have to sprint and shoot anyone we see”  
You nodded. “Alright, bold run it is. You done?”  
Donnie slotted the last of his guns into the bag he wore at his hip and nodded. “Let’s go”  
You and he crept to the corner of the garage, using the cover it provided as long as you could. “My small guns are over there, in one of the currant bushes” you explained, nodding to the line of fruit bushes at the bottom of the garden.  
“If we’re gonna get them then we’ll have to make our way up through the fruit trees and then back down the other side to get to the other stuff”  
“Yeah it looks that way. Ready?”  
“Ready” Donnie nodded.  
“Alright, don’t fall behind”  
And with that you were off, Donnie at your side. You made it without incident to your stash of small guns, which you piled into the bag slung across your body. You and Donnie then bent low and started crouch-running up through the band of fruit trees growing along the edge of an untamed mass of bramble bushes which marked the boundary between managed lawn and scrub-land. You reached the top and were heading back towards your concealed weapons when you heard a yell. “There you are!”, it was Mikey’s voice. You didn’t even turn to look just ran straight for your pistols. You fell to your knees and scrambled in the undergrowth until your hands fell onto the smooth plastic. You rammed Splinter’s gun into your bag strap and took hold of your own weapons, finally feeling back in a position of power now that you were kitted out to some extent again.  
Donnie had also found his gun and when you turned back to him he was happily brandishing the super soaker. As you watched, however, a shadow fell across Donatello and before you had chance to warn him he was hit by a long stream of water from the ridge a little above him. It was April, armed with a super soaker but only a super soaker, clearly she had lost or never found her other weapons.  
Which begged the question, where the hell were all the weapons? While you were contemplating this Mikey ran in, heading straight for you with Donnie’s twin pistols. You ducked the stream of water and sent your own back in retaliation. Mikey then turned on Donnie while you ran up the ridge to face April. That was when you saw it…  
Clear of the tangle of bushes which kept your view of the front lawn obscured you could now see the fierce fight going on below. Raph, still covered in his ridiculous selection from earlier was practically drowning Splinter with a super soaker in each hand while Splinter fought back with the one he’d stolen from you, using his tail to fling balloons at his son. Meanwhile, Leo was shooting two pistols at Casey who was sat on the roof, unloading a vast quantity of tiny guns onto the turtle below and flinging the weapons at him when they were empty.  
On your other side Mikey and Donnie were still drenching each other while hiding behind bushes. That left just you and April. You aimed your pistols at her and fired while she turned her super soaker on you.  
You had more water across your various weapons but she had more power in her almost-full soaker. You weren’t backing down, though. Accepting your fate, you opened fire, and April did the same. The two of you screamed as the cold water made contact with your bodies.  
You maintained that for as long as you could, until your pistols were empty. At that point you threw the pistols to the ground and ran down the slope, slipping on the grass and barely staying upright. You couldn’t stop once you reached the bottom, your momentum carrying you forward. You barely had time to warn Raph before you crashed into him full-force (although it wasn’t entirely your built-up momentum, you may have sped up a little deliberately…).  
“Raph!” you squealed as you crashed full-force into your boyfriend and slumped to the ground. You un-holstered your remaining pistol and opened fire, drenching Raph for the few moments you still had water in the gun while he turned his attention from Splinter to you. By the time his super soaker was empty you were laughing almost uncontrollably in the grass, blindly squirting the contents of your tiny pistols at him. Raph bent down and grabbed the remaining water balloons from your belt, throwing them at people as he watched everyone else’s water supplies run out.  
You lay back in a pile of pistols and closed your eyes, smiling as the sun baked your soaking body. You had ruled yourself out of the running, you’d put up a good fight and failed honourably. That’s why you weren’t expecting to feel something plastic placed into your hand. You opened one eye against the glare of the sun and found yourself looking at Raph, who had just placed a gun into your hand. He shrugged.  
“I can’t take fearless out on my own” was all the explanation you got. You smiled and allowed Raph to pull you to your feet. You nodded at him and surged forward, pointing the pistol at Leo and emptying it from one side while Raph attacked from the other direction. Leo surrendered, dropping his gun and falling to his knees.  
You were exhausted, drenched, covered in grass stains and blissfully happy as you fell down to the grass and pulled Raph with you, plonking yourself into his lap as you closed your eyes and leant against his shell.  
“Wait so who won?” Mikey’s voice asked from somewhere, he’d fallen in the long grass and had simply stayed there so you couldn’t quite locate him.  
“Raph won” Casey replied from his position lying a few meters away.  
“Didn’t Y/N win too?” Donnie asked, perched next to April on the grassy ridge.  
“Y/N was more of a prisoner of war” Raph explained “I’m the winner, she was my minion”  
“I bet you’re gonna be insufferable now” you muttered.  
“Damn right I am”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was at the house this is based at the other day and I was following the route I had planned for this around the garden. My dad was very confused when he asked what I was doing and I told him I was following the route in a chapter and then sprinted off across the lawn.  
> You'd think he would have learnt to stop asking me by now.


	62. Warming Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I considered doing a lemon chapter, but it quickly became apparent that I am not cut out for it, at least not yet anyway. So you can have this instead, a pile of inference of what we must assume happened.

You stayed outside for a while, slowly drying as the sun beat down from above and migrated across the sky. You were still fairly damp when the sun eventually dipped past the tree line and cast long shadows across the garden, leaving you shivering slightly. You’d moved from in Raph’s lap to sat next to him and he felt it when your body started to shiver gently. He couldn’t blame you, as you were sat in wet denim shorts (denim is not a good idea for a water fight) and a damp vest top which was nearly dry but not quite. Your hair hung around your face in messy tangles, the occasional piece of grass or leaf woven into among the locks.  
“Alright, let’s get you warmed up” he said, dragging you to your feet.  
“I’m fine Raph, I’m nearly dry” you protested.  
“Liar” he said as he guided you away from the rest of the group and back towards the house. Then he lowered his voice so that only you could hear. “Besides, princess, I can think of more fun ways to warm up than sitting in the sunshine”  
“What?”   
Raph raised an eye ridge at you.  
“Oh” you replied, giggling. “Well in that case, lead on”  
You and Raph made your way through the house, an air of expectation growing in you as you approached your bedroom. Mikey and Leo were in the kitchen, Mikey teaching his brother the finer points of pizza making while they prepared dinner.  
“Hey, Y/N, fancy joining us?” Mikey asked as you and Raph entered.  
“No thanks, Mikey. I’ve, uh, got something else to do” you replied as Raph continued to lead you through the kitchen.  
“What could be more important than pizza?” Mikey asked as you disappeared through the door.  
“Me!” Came Raph’s reply, already half way down the corridor.  
It took Mikey and Leo a moment. When it finally clicked, Leo’s mouth formed a silent ‘oh’ and Mikey shivered as though trying to shake off unpleasant thoughts, which is exactly what he was doing.  
“I guess we should, uh, leave them to it then” Leo said, going back to chopping vegetables very intently.

 

“That was mean” you said to Raph but he grinned.  
“How? I told ‘em the truth”  
“You know it makes them uncomfortable. And besides, it’s none of their business”, you were trying to chastise him but it was a struggle to keep the grin off your face.  
“If you didn’t want them to know what goes on between us you shouldn’t have moved in with us”  
“You’re incorrigible” you said, shoving his arm lightly.  
“And that’s why you love me”  
“I think I love you despite of it rather than because of it”  
You arrived at your and Raph’s room. As you closed the door behind you, Raph drew the curtains across the window. Between those 2 actions you shut the world out, eliminating everything beyond those 4 walls from your thoughts. And that was perfectly ok with you.  
If it had been up to you, you would have shrunk the world down even further. All you needed to think about were his eyes, the way they locked onto you with some crazy combination of love and animalistic lust. He walked over to you with clear purpose, one finger threading through the strap of your vest.  
“Let’s get you out of these wet things” he murmured, hand moving down your body to be met by his other at the bottom of your top. Far slower than was necessary, Raph pulled your vest up your body and over your head. His lips met yours as his hands wandered over your sides, taking away the chills with his touch. When his hands moved to the button on your shorts you did nothing to resist, wriggling your hips to aid the garment in its fall to the floor once he’d unfastened them.  
Raph’s arms wrapped around you and without a word he picked you up, only to gently lay you down a few paces away on the bed, crawling up after you so that he could wrap himself around you, transferring his warmth to you while his lips found every single spot which made you tingle. You didn’t mind the hickies he gave you, in fact you relished them. It was a physical representation of your belonging. You were his and he wanted to show the world and that was absolutely fine with you. Well, under one condition.  
You attached your lips to the side of his neck and gave him some, too. Raph could mark you if you could mark him. He enjoyed that, rewarding you with one of the growls you loved to hear from him, the kind that you could feel through his entire body, the kind that gave you a glimpse of his animal side. You liked to see that side, it reminded you exactly who and what Raph was, reminded you of his uniqueness. Raph was human in so many ways, but he was still an animal. An exquisite beast that you could never tame and would never try to.  
He growled again when you dragged your fingernails over his shell, only this growl was almost closer to a purr. You smiled when he closed his eyes to relish the feeling, the minute vibrations your nails sent through his body.  
You certainly couldn’t complain about being cold as he sought to remove the rest of your clothing, showering your body with attention from his hands and his lips. You would have stayed like that forever had you been allowed, but when you closed the door the rest of the world continued to exist. In the kitchen, Mikey and Leo were watching the pizzas swiftly approaching being ready.  
“We should probably gather people for food” Leo said.  
“But what about Raph and Y/N?” Mikey asked, “What if they’re still, uh, busy?”  
Leo looked away, being understandably uncomfortable discussing his brother’s sex life with his other brother. “Um I guess we could knock on the door and tell them”  
They made their way through the house, but stopped short of actually knocking. The sounds coming from the other side were enough to make them regret the idea. A selection of moans and groans that the 2 brothers wished they’d never heard.  
“I’m sure they’ll come out when they’re, um, done” Leo said, turning and walking away as fast as he could with Mikey right behind him.  
When you and Raph did emerge, and came for your pizza, neither Leo nor Mikey could quite manage to look you in the eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am aware it's been a little while since I updated, but I've been having a little break. Life's been a little busy what with me preparing to start university in a few weeks and spending time with friends before we all go our seperate ways. I'm writing again, though, and while I may be absent again in the next few weeks I will endevour to keep updating. I appreciate your patience :-) :-)


	63. Middle of the Night

You weren’t used to sharing a bed with Raph. It happened sometimes but it wasn’t the norm. As such, he had no idea just how often you had nightmares.  
They were usually twisted memories of the Kraang invasion, moments in time that you wished you could forget but couldn’t help but remember. You were used to them by now, usually managing to fall back to sleep after a little while. Sometimes it helped you to read over texts in your phone, conversations you’d had with Raph and the others which reminded you that you weren’t there anymore, you were safe with your family.  
Sometimes the nightmares were from before then, back when your parents were alive. These nightmares weren’t scary in the same way. These ones reminded you of how different your life could have been. They were less disturbing but also they were more disturbing, leaving you staring into the darkness and trying to work out just how different your life would be if you hadn’t lost them.

No, Raph had no idea of the frequency with which these happened. Or, at least, you thought he didn’t. It was true that Raph didn’t know how often they were and he couldn’t always tell when they’d happened, but he knew you were haunted. How could you not be? He’d seen New York after the invasion. He could only imagine what it must have been like to live in it, never resting in case you got caught, but never being able to do anything to help. Raph knew you had nightmares and he wished he could stop them. But you’d never tell him, just like he never told you when he had them.

You were both haunted.

But for this week you were sharing a bed.  
Raph knew about your nightmare before you’d even woken up. He’d had one too and had been lying in the dark, reassuring himself with your closeness. When you started to mutter and toss and turn he rolled over and pulled you into his arms. You calmed a little and then opened your eyes, the remains of the dream still dancing through your mind.  
“Shhh, it’s ok. The past is the past. What matters is you’re safe now, with me”  
You didn’t even have a chance to properly wake up before he’d said that, comforting you instantly. You curled into his arms and closed your eyes. You wouldn’t remember this in the morning, hadn’t woken up enough to do so, and that was good enough for Raph. He’d stopped the horrors invading your daytime. He couldn’t keep the horrors away from the nighttime, that was where they thrived, but as long as when the sun came up you weren’t still living in fear of events past then that was enough to comfort him and allow him to drift into sleep.


	64. Sardines

You closed your eyes against the sun, an orange glow becoming all you could see through your eyelids, allowing its heat to warm your body. Grass tickled your cheeks and for the briefest moment you felt a tiny fly land on the tip of your nose before you swatted it away. A light breeze cooled you momentarily and you smiled in complete bliss.  
When you lived with 4 boys like the Hamato brothers, silent moments like these were a rarity. You curled your fingers in the grass around you and took a moment to memorise the feeling.  
“Y/N”  
And with that the silence ended. You opened your eyes to find Leo walking towards you.  
“Yeah?”  
“Have you seen Mikey?”  
“Leo, I’ve been lying in the grass with my eyes closed, I haven’t seen anyone”, you gave him the tart reply but then you started to get suspicious. “Why do you ask?”  
“No one’s seen him in the last hour, and no one’s heard him either”  
“Mikey being silent? Now that is strange”  
“Yeah. What’s stranger is Donnie went to look for him a little while ago and now he’s gone missing, too”  
“Could they have gone anywhere?” you asked, accepting Leo’s hand as he hauled you out of the grass.  
“Unlikely”  
You sighed. “Alright, I’ll indulge you. They’re probably just playing a prank or something but if you’re worried then I’ll engage in the search”  
Leo wasn’t overly impressed by your lack of concern but he nodded. You wandered into the house. “You take this end, I’ll take the other end of the house” you said and headed off towards the bedrooms.  
When you walked into Leo and Donnie’s room you were alerted by a strange noise, a muffled sort of spluttering noise coming from the built-in wardrobe. You crept forwards and pulled the door open a crack. Inside you found Mikey and Donnie sat on the floor.  
“Guys? What the hell are you doing?”  
“Shhh, get in here” Donnie whispered and Mikey reached out an arm and dragged you in.  
“What the hell is going on?” you whispered, matching your voice to theirs.  
“Sardines” Mikey said.  
“Sardines?”  
“You know, sardines” Donnie said, “the game where one person hides and everyone who finds them has to join them in their hiding place”  
“If you’re playing sardines then shouldn’t you have told people?”  
“Yeah probably”, Mikey shrugged. You giggled and Donnie slammed a hand over your mouth.  
“Shhh” he said.  
“Wait, so Mikey, did you just sit in this cupboard and wait for us to look for you so that you could play secret sardines?”  
“Yes”  
“Right. If I’m engaging in this then I’m telling people what’s happening, otherwise they’ll start to panic once 3 of us disappear” you said, pulling out your phone and opening the group text between you, the turtles, April and Casey (Master Splinter had originally been included but he had removed himself).  
‘Found Mikey and Donnie, they were playing sardines but didn’t tell anyone (Mikey’s idea). I’m in now, too, but thought it might make more sense if people actually knew it was happening’  
Leo was the first to reply – ‘so are we supposed to play now, too?’  
‘It’s Mikey’s game, so what d’you think?’ you replied.  
‘What the shell is sardines’ Raph asked.  
‘Google it’ Donnie said. A moment later Raph popped up again.  
‘Seems stupid to me’  
You shuffled around and pulled your knees up to your chest. There was enough room for the 3 of you, just about, but you weren’t looking forward to more people getting in there.  
A minute later, you heard the door to the bedroom open.  
You rammed your fist into your mouth to keep the giggles at bay.  
“Y/N? Donnie? Mikey? You in here?” you heard Raph’s voice call. The urge to laugh became more intense at the sound of your boyfriend’s voice. For a moment, you thought he was going to leave but one of you must have made a miniscule noise because his footsteps paused and then moved towards you. You, Donnie and Mikey held your breath.  
Then the door swung open and you found yourself staring up at a bemused Raph.  
He said nothing, just raised an eyebrow.  
“Get in here” you said, grabbing his hand and dragging him into the wardrobe. Raph still seemed very confused by what was happening but when you sat him where you’d been sitting and then sat on his lap he seemed to accept that this was happening.  
The cupboard was now officially cramped, even with you and Raph trying to conserve space by you sitting on him. Donnie ended up standing up so that he didn’t have to continue squeezing his knees into his plastron.  
The door opened again and someone walked in.  
“Guys? Anyone?” April’s voice called. The door opened and closed again and the group in the wardrobe breathed a sigh of relief. A minute later the door opened again and whoever it was wandered into the room. You heard footsteps coming closer and held your breath. Casey opened the door.  
“Aha!” he said.  
“Shhhhh” everyone in the cupboard said.  
“You can’t just announce our location” Mikey explained. Casey couldn’t be easily dragged in, some rearranging had to be done. You and Casey sat on the floor with the 3 turtles stood above you and it just about worked.  
“Why the hell are we doing this?” Casey whispered into the semi-darkness.  
“Because Mikey said so” Raph said. That was all the answer Casey needed.  
There were a couple of very uncomfortable minutes before the door opened and someone walked in. They walked straight to the wardrobe and opened the door.  
“Oh, you are in here” April said “why didn’t anyone answer when I came in earlier?”  
“Because we’re hiding” Casey explained.  
“I do not get this game” April sighed.  
Yet more reorganisation was needed to get April in. It ended with Donnie and Casey stood pressed against that back wall of the cupboard, Raph stood in front of them with you wrapped around him like a snake while he held you off the ground so that April and Mikey could squash into bottom corners.  
“This is not comfortable” someone said, but at this point it was kind of hard to tell who it was. It could have been Casey, but then again it could also have been Mikey.  
“This is a dumb game” Raph muttered, shifting your weight slightly.  
“Don’t you dare drop me” you muttered back.  
“Yeah, don’t you dare drop her” April said, she was in a position in that if you went falling to the floor you would probably crush her and there was nowhere for her to escape to.  
It took Leo far too long to find you all.  
It could have been a couple of minutes, but then again it felt like an eternity so who’s to say. When he did finally walk into the room the entire closet tensed, everyone holding their breath. As it turns out, 6 people simultaneously holding their breath is quite conspicuous and Leo walked straight over to the wardrobe and opened it.  
“Oh my god!” Leo cried as he witnessed his brothers and friends stuffed into a cupboard like sardines.  
Well that explained the name.  
“Are you guys ok?” he asked, whipping out his phone and taking a photo.  
“Did we win?” Casey asked from the back.  
“No one is a winner here” you muttered, darkly. April crawled out into freedom and you could finally unwrap yourself from Raph and touch back on the ground.  
“Oh I don’t know about that, I’m finding this pretty funny” Leo said, grinning.  
“Great, Leo wins and we all got closer than was necessary for us to ever be” Raph said, “now I need some fresh air”  
“I might join you in that” you said.  
“Great, just stay at least a foot away at all times. I love ya, but after that I need some space”  
“Yeah, I don’t blame you” you replied, heading out with Raph to go and lie in the sunshine.  
5 minutes later a message popped up on the group text. It was from Mikey.  
‘No one up for round 2 then?’


	65. Flower Crowns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can honestly say I have no idea why I did this. But hey, what's life without whimsy?  
> Enjoy some mild ridiculousness.

“Why is it that the most decent guys I know are giant mutant turtles?” you mused to April, sat on the lawn, sipping iced drinks with her.  
“Because god forbid life ever be easy or straight forward” she replied, biting off a piece of one of the cookies on a plate between you.  
“Do you think it’s something about being cut off from the world?”  
“Maybe. I suppose they never had the exposure to dickheads on a day-to-day basis in school like everyone else we know. That probably helps”  
“It’s kind of sweet, isn’t it?” you said, picking up a cookie of your own. April raised an eyebrow, looking down the garden at where the turtles were training.  
“Sweet isn’t really the term I would use for them. Well, maybe for Mikey and Donnie. And Leo’s kinda sweet too” – she glanced over at you, very aware that she had not yet mentioned your boyfriend, meeting your mildly amused expression – “and I suppose Raph’s kind of sweet, too. At least, with you he is. Ok, yes, I suppose it is rather sweet”  
You absentmindedly started plucking some daisies, carefully splitting the stems and threading them together in a ring. April followed your lead and the conversation lapsed into quiet for a few minutes until both of you had completed some rather scraggly tiaras and were proudly wearing your creations.  
“You know, if the world knew about the turtles, they would have been photoshopped with flower crowns countless times by now” you said, trying to picture the mutants a short way away in the classic style of flower crowns. April caught your eye with a mildly mischievous grin.  
“What?” you asked.  
“Well the world may not know about them, but we do. And we have this garden full of flowers…”  
You laughed, the image of the turtles in flower crowns flooding your imagination. “Mikey might go along with it, and Donnie’s not averse to playing the fool occasionally, but can you really imagine Leo and Raph in flower crowns?”  
“Course I can! Come on, we need to gather materials”  
April grabbed your hand and dragged you up. You looked back longingly at your spot in the grass. “But April! My drink! The cookies!” you whined.  
“They’ll still be here when you get back”  
“If the boys get to the cookies they won’t be! And my ice will have melted and it just won’t be as good”  
“Well then you’d better hurry”  
You huffed but allowed yourself to be taken away.

Your ice had indeed melted by the time you returned, but the cookies were still there so that was some small consolation as you dumped down some branches and long grass you had carefully harvested, followed by April and a basket of flowers, equally carefully harvested to prevent too much plant damage.  
The manufacturing process was a simple one, a few blades of grass twisted together and fastened with string to form a band into which flowers were then weaved. You had to admit that, despite the ridiculous nature of the activity, you were enjoying yourself. The turtles remained blissfully unaware, continuing with their sparring ‘practice’, which was really more something they were doing for fun by this point, without sparing too much thought to what the two girls were so intent on further up the garden.  
Donnie did look up at one point and, seeing a flash of flowers, thought to ask what was going. “April, Y/N! What are you two working on?” he called over. Whatever it was, it was swiftly hidden behind the backs of the girls.  
“It’s a surprise” April replied.  
“A good surprise, or a bad surprise?” Leo asked.  
“Undecided” you replied, “it depends on how it works out at the end”  
“Ok…” Leo said.  
“Leave ‘em be, they won’t tell us if they don’t wanna” Raph advised.  
The surprise wasn’t far off ready anyway. You’d made the basic bands and were in the middle of personalising them for each turtle. Mikey’s was bright and bold, to match his personality, sporting some large pink flowers and a couple of pinky-orangey ones. For Donnie you had managed to find some purple flowers which were fitted in a pleasingly uniform line all around the band. Leo’s was a little subtler, with clusters of white flowers and the odd little blue one dotted among them. Raph’s sported the least flowers of the group, as you knew he would probably straight up refuse to wear a proper flower crown. Instead, you’d woven some kind of vine through his crown, slotting the odd daisy among them and with a single red flower positioned near where his right temple would be.  
You called the turtles over, hiding the crowns behind your back.  
“We’re ready guys, come and see!” You called.  
They wandered over, standing in a line in front of you as instructed by April.  
“We were chatting and decided that your excellent actions in aid of this planet and its people need rewarding. As such, the high mutant council have granted us the power to present you with titles and the associated benefits, those being none” April explained. “You must kneel”  
The turtles seemed reluctant.  
“Kneel!” you repeated and they did. April produced her first crown and positioned herself in front of Mikey.  
“Sir Michelangelo, I present you with this crown and the title of Lord Michelangelo, Head Chef of Ice Cream land”  
As predicted, Mikey was down with it. “Yeah boiiiii!” he called, allowing April to put the crown on his head before bouncing up. She moved to Donnie next.  
“Sir Donatello, I present you with this crown and the title of Lord Donatello, Chief Inventor of the Tinkerers”  
“I am honored by this recognition” Donnie replied, face serious but with a smile in his eyes.  
You stepped forward now, holding up Leo’s crown. “Sir Leonardo, I present you this crown as a symbol of your new title, Lord Leonardo, Captain of the Heroes of Space” – you leant forward and lowered your voice “this title does not include slapping rights” you said with a grin and he laughed back.  
You moved on to Raph, who was looking at you with his trademark raised eyebrow.  
“Flower crowns aren’t really my style, princess”  
“That’s why this is more of a circlet, representing your new title as Lord Raphael, Prince of the flame turtles” you replied, plonking the ‘circlet’ on his head. “Arise, prince”  
He stood and smirked at you. “Happy now?”  
You looked to April, who nodded. “We are satisfied that you have been sufficiently rewarded. However, the flower crowns do have to stay on for the rest of the day” she said. You pulled out your phone and opened the camera.  
“That last order is just for the photo opportunities” you explained, snapping a quick selfie with a surprised Raph.  
“And also for the future blackmail” April added.  
“Oh yeah, that too”


	66. Picnic

You know when you have the same alarm forever and you get so used to it getting you up every morning for school/work that when you hear it you immediately panic?  
Yeah, that.

The song you once kind of liked, at least liked enough to set is as your alarm, blasted out of your phone and ripped you from sleep with the momentary terror that you’d somehow forgotten that today was a work day. You panicked, trying to remember exactly where you were and what the hell you had to do today.  
“What the hell is that noise?” Raph grumbled beside you, his face half-pressed into his pillow causing his voice to come out in an only vaguely understandable mumble. That jogged your memory as to where you were and where you had to be.  
“It’s my alarm, Raph”  
“Well why the shell is it going off? I thought we were supposed to be on holiday” he grumbled.  
“We’re going on a picnic, remember”  
“Can’t it wait, like, half an hour?” he asked, dragging you into his arms and curling his body around you to prevent you from leaving. “It’s so warm and nice in here”  
“We gotta get to the forest before most people are there so that we can find a spot off the path without your giant green butt being spotted” you replied, trying to disentangle yourself, but his arms were far stronger than you.  
He groaned. “Why you gotta be so right all the time?” he muttered into your neck, screwing his eyes shut in some kind of hopeless attempt to fall back asleep. You alarm continued in the background. “Turn that damn noise off, babe”  
“I can’t, you’re keeping me prisoner. It’s a choice Raph, we stay here with the alarm and have no picnic, or the alarm shuts up and we go have sandwiches and cake in the woods”  
“UGH fine”  
He pulled away from you and you swung your legs out of bed, chuckling at him.  
“It’s not even all that early, you know. You usually get up way before this for training”  
“Yes, but on those days I’m not on holiday”  
Raph sat up but didn’t get much further, blinking silently to himself as you brushed your hair and got dressed. You gave him until you were fully dressed before nagging him.  
“Come on, get your butt out of bed, I ain’t waiting around all morning for you”  
With clear reluctance, he threw the duvet clear from him and stood up. “There. Up”  
“I’m so proud” you replied, sarcasm clear in your voice. You and he wandered through to the kitchen where you found Mikey cooking his breakfast, dancing to music only he seemed to be able to hear. Raph dropped a couple of slices of bread in the toaster while you grabbed a bowl of your preferred cereal, sitting at the table where Leo was munching his way through a jam sandwich.

You’d got most of the picnic food ready the night before, making a selection of sandwiches acceptable to the entire group, baking some cakes, combining various ingredients to make salads etc. Mikey had even made small pizza bites and had been convinced not to eat them just yet. The only thing that really needed doing was packing the stuff into various bags, as you weren’t civilized enough to own an actual picnic basket.  
You put the pizza bites in your bag, keeping them away from Mikey who was instead trusted with a bag of drinks and plastic cups. The rest of the food and plates etc. were distributed evenly among the group, who had all mostly woken up in time to leave the house and squish into the party wagon.  
Your destination was a forest not all that far from the house. You and Casey had scouted there a couple of days previously, or rather you and Casey had got lost there the other day while searching for a secluded picnic spot and had spent an hour stumbling through the trees trying to find the path again. You had, however, found a suitable spot and the difficulty you had finding the path suggested you were unlikely to be discovered.  
A short drive later, Casey pulled into the carpark at the bottom of the hill the woods covered and ushered the mutants out of the vehicle and onto a rather overgrown path nearby. The plan was to have you and Casey leading, with a small gap between you and the mutants, with April bringing up the rear, that way you could warn the others if you encountered someone and they could dive into the shadows of the trees either side.  
“Are you sure you remember the way, guys?” you heard Leo call from down the path.  
“Of course! We don’t get lost, we’re the dream team” Casey replied. You heard Donnie laugh.  
“You get lost all the time, Casey. You got lost on the way here!”  
“Hence the word ‘team’, he remembers landmarks and I remember the general direction. Between us we can find the way” you replied.  
“So, between you, you have the navigational ability of one sensible person” Raph said. You span round and stuck your tongue out at him.  
30 minutes later, you were off the path and forging your way through the undergrowth.  
“Alright, I’m calling your bluff. We’re lost” Leo said.  
“We are not lost! The spot is just well off the path to keep you giant green idiots hidden” you replied, although you threw Casey a mildly alarmed look without turning back to let the turtles see your expression.  
You were very lost, and had been for 10 minutes.  
“We’re so lost!” April complained, now in the middle of the group, having abandoned her post at the back once you’d left the path.  
“I prefer the turn mildly turned about” Casey said, holding a branch out of the way for you and pinging it back into the others as they continued to criticize.  
“I knew this was a bad idea” Raph muttered “should have stayed in bed”  
“Can we just eat it here? I’m hungry” Mikey grumbled.  
“Patience, I’m sure our guides know exactly where they are and where they’re going” Splinter said, and you would have been grateful for the show of faith if his tone wasn’t laced with sarcasm.  
“We’re nearly there, I’m sure of it” you assured the group, although you had no evidence to support this. Then, Casey pulled back a branch and revealed a clearing, the rough stump of a fallen tree forming a sort of table in the middle.  
“Yes!” you and Casey cried, high-fiving and proving to the whole group, not that they needed it confirming, that you had been completely lost and had stumbled across your chosen spot by complete chance.  
“Can we eat now?” Mikey asked.

You spread a couple of blankets on the ground and spread out the food in containers on the stump. You were sat between Raph and Casey.  
“See, told you we knew where we were going” you told Raph, popping a pizza bite into your mouth.  
“Y/N, never for one second did I doubt you” he replied.  
“That’s a straight-up lie, Raph” Leo said, piling his paper plate high with food.  
“No, I knew they’d successfully bullshit about knowing where they were going until they stumbled across this place, or somewhere they could pass off as being their destination”  
You gave his arm a playful shove. “Good to know you have faith in me”  
He just grinned. “It’s alright, you have many talents, navigation just isn’t one of them”  
You scowled and reached out, taking his sandwich from his plate and tucking in without breaking eye contact.  
“Well you try navigating your way through thousands of identical trees” Casey countered.  
“What matters is that we’re here now” Splinter said, trying to cool down the friendly banter before it escalated into unfriendly banter, and then a fight.  
“Sensei’s right. Let’s just enjoy the picnic, who knows when we’ll have another one somewhere as nice as this place” Donnie said.  
“I propose a toast” Leo suggested, taking up one of the bottles of fizzy pop Mikey had been responsible for. You didn’t get a chance to warn him that Mikey had been enthusiastically swinging the bag with it in before it was too late. There was a warning hiss but not enough time to stop it as white foam exploded everywhere.  
The warning that was halfway out of your lips turned into a squeal. Leo closed the bottle quickly, but not quickly enough. There was a moment of stunned silence, and then you burst out laughing, as did everyone else.  
“Did Mikey have this in his bag, by any chance?” Leo asked.  
“How did you guess?” Donnie deadpanned.  
“Hey! What does that mean?” Mikey protested.  
“Nothing, Mikey, it doesn’t mean anything” you said, chucking him a pizza bite to silence anything else he might have to say.  
“You were proposing a toast, Leonardo” Splinter reminded the group.  
“Yes, right”, Leo said, picking up the bottle again and slowly releasing the pressure. Everyone tensed but he kept the contents under control, pouring it into plastic cups. “A toast, to Y/N, without who none of this would have happened”  
You blushed as the group raised their cups.


	67. Fire Lighting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so, a little over a year ago I worked out that September 29th is the TMNT's birthday, or mutation day. It is possible the logic I used is that the 2012 show first aired on the 29th and the first ep is their mutation day, but I can't go back and ask myself so this is mere speculation. However, I have indeed celebrated their birthday this year as I did last year. Last year I ate pizza rolls and watched TMNT with red, orange, blue and purple eyeshadow, while this year I have eaten a whole pizza in my TMNT onesie and watched the 2014 film and written fanfic.  
> So that you may share in my celebrations, I am posting a second update for the day.  
> Enjoy!

There was a fireplace in the snug at the holiday house. It was perfectly lovely to look at, the wooden fireplace had fairly detailed flowers on it, 3D and winding up its sides. But, it had so far gone unfilled.  
It was a chilly evening, the sun had shone faithfully all day for your picnic, but by the time you returned the day had taken a turn towards cold. You were sat in an armchair, scrolling through your phone, and barely even thought about what you were doing as you dragged a blanket from off the back of the chair and around yourself. Between Tumblr posts you stretched and, as you did so, noticed the fireplace, and the bags of kindling, old newspapers and firewood next to it.  
Your apartment did not have a fire, and you hadn’t even attempted one in years. But, something deep inside you said that today was the day.  
But you could not do this alone.  
Luckily, you weren’t alone. In the chair next to yours was Raph, trying to reread his favourite Fantastic Four Food Groups comic in peace and appreciating the fact that you were leaving him to it. Until now, at least.  
“Do you wanna make a fire?” you asked.  
“Nope” he said, without even looking up.  
“Aren’t you cold?”  
“Nope”  
“Well I’m cold”  
“Then you make a fire”  
“I was hoping we could do it together”  
Finally, Raph lifted his eyes from the comic. “What would be the point of that?”  
“Don’t you think it would be cute?”  
“Y/N, we’ve been together not far off a year now, if you can come up with one instance in all that time in which I have indicated I am even slightly inclined towards things being cute I will happily build a fire with you”  
You pursed your lips, narrowed your eyes and stared at him. “Alright Mr. Tough, I accept your challenge”  
He offered you a small smirk and went back to reading his comic. You put your phone down and started thinking.  
“When you first asked me out? With the picnic and stuff, that was cute”  
He shook his head. “April helped me organise that, I was in over my head and willing to do whatever she told me. She was the one who liked the cute, not me”  
You huffed but kept thinking.  
“When I first went back to work after being kidnapped and you organised that date for me when I got home”  
Another shake of his head. “Romantic not cute”  
“Fine” you muttered. “When we decorated for Christmas?”  
“Festive, not cute”  
“Chompy!”  
“What?”  
“Literally everything to do with Chompy. You coo at him all the time and you’ve been spotted on multiple occasions playing with him with action figures. That is cute as heck”  
Raph opened his mouth to argue, realised that Chompy was curled up asleep on the arm of the chair next to him, closed his mouth and relented. “Fine, I’ll make a fire with you”  
“That’s the spirit”  
Raph put his comic down and joined you as you knelt down by the fireplace. He started to grab a few logs from the bag beside the fire, as well as a few smaller sticks of kindling and dumped them all in a heap.  
“That’s not going to light” you informed him.  
“What? Why not?”  
“Raph, have you seriously never made a fire in your life?”  
“Not personally, no. The others always took over at the start, I was always lumped with gathering or chopping firewood. Probably because making fires is hella boring and they knew I’d complain”  
“Making fires is not boring, it’s relaxing, therapeutic even”  
He gave you an unbelieving look. “No, pounding bad guys is therapeutic and reading comics is relaxing, making fires is neither of those things”  
You sighed, dragging the pile of wood out of the fireplace. “Let me show you”  
Raph watched as you placed a couple of logs in the fireplace and then carefully balanced the kindling among them, with crumpled up newspaper woven between.  
“What you’ve made there, Y/N, is a sculpture”  
“Oh, shut up, you. You’ve gotta give the fire a chance and place to set, it won’t light the logs immediately from one match”  
“If all you were gonna do was tell me what to do and take over, why am I even involved here?” he huffed.  
“Because you need to learn”  
You struck a match and held it to several points of the newspaper, watching with delight as the small flames carried along the paper and started licking at the edges of the kindling. For a few glorious seconds, the fireplace was lit with bright orange flames, but then they began to dim and disappear.  
“No!” you cried, blowing gently on the flames and then more forcefully. It didn’t help, the flames faded into a tiny glow on the edges of the singed paper. Raph laughed.  
“Well done, babe, very impressive”  
“Oh, shut up” you snapped, feeling the beginnings of a pout forming.  
“Right, my turn, move over” he said, and you shuffled aside reluctantly as he took a more central place in front of the fire. He placed a hand on either side of your carefully constructed pile and push it all into one heap in the middle. He then struck a match and shoved it into the middle of the heap. The flames briefly glowed and then disappeared.  
You were just forming some kind of witty remark when the heap in front of you burst rather suddenly into flames. You recoiled and watched as the paper burnt, then the kindling lit up.  
“What the shell?” she muttered.  
“See, you don’t need any fancy sculpture. It’s wood, it burns”  
“You still gotta get the logs to light”  
“Give it 5 minutes, max”  
“I hate you”  
“Yeah, I love you too” he said, pulling you in to lean against him. “I may not be keen on the whole cute thing, but kissing by a fire is pretty romantic” he said, suggestion heavy in his voice.  
“Oh fine” you said, a smile at the corners of your lips as you turned to kiss him, the firelight making both of you appear to glow as the flames flickered around the logs and began to take.  
The door opened as you were mid-kiss and before you could pull away you heard Mikey’s voice. “Awwwww are you two kissing by the fire? That’s adorable!”  
You couldn’t keep back your laughter.


	68. Campfire

You were leaving tomorrow, returning to the city and to normality. As is so often the way with holidays, you didn’t want to go, you weren’t ready. So tonight had to be extra special, extra different, something far removed from life back home.  
It was Mikey who came up with the idea of camping.  
You were in the living room, doors to the garden wide open and a pleasant draft wafting inside as you flicked through what was on TV. Mikey was beside you, commenting on every program he saw, when his train of thought changed so suddenly that, had it been anyone but Mikey, you would have been alarmed. He was midway through a sentence about a poor-quality baking show who’s name he’d seen on the guide when he suddenly came out with “We should go camping”  
“What?” you asked, not following the unfathomable logic which had taken him from cupcake baking to camping.  
“It’s our last night”  
“I am aware”  
“Well we should have a campfire! Make smores! Tell stories! Sleep under the stars!”, he worked himself up into more and more excitement as he talked.  
“I dunno about sleeping under the stars Mikey, not sure how I’d feel if I was woken by rain on my face”  
“Fine then, you sleep inside, but we’re doing the other stuff”  
“Sounds good to me. You’re organising it, though”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but for the love of everything you hold dear, don’t let Mikey organise it” Donnie said as he entered the room.  
“He wants to have a campfire and all the associated stuff tonight”  
“I barely trust him to cook on a stove, let alone set up, light and use an open flame”  
“I’m still here you know” Mikey huffed  
“Fine then, you can help him” you bargained.  
“What if I don’t want to do any of that stuff?” Donnie asked.  
“Then when we all burn to death in the flame ball Mikey creates, I’m holding you at least partially responsible”  
“Guys! I am here, aren’t I? You can see me, right?” Mikey said.  
“Fine Mikey, I’ll help you with the damn campfire” Donnie said.  
“Yay!”

The sun was only just starting to set when Mikey and Donnie summoned you to the back garden, where they had used some stones and bricks to construct a firepit. April and Casey had been convinced to go and buy marshmallows, although the only convincing they needed was the promise they would have some. They’d got skewers as well, so when Mikey called everyone outside you found a plate of skewers and a bowl of marshmallows next to a lively fire and an assortment of things to sit on, ranging from stools, logs and a picnic blanket, which you claimed for you and Raph.  
As the group settled the sun dipped a little lower and the fire became a greater source of light and, to a smaller extent, of heat as the air cooled for the night.  
“Well we’re here, now what do we do?” Casey asked.  
“Eye spy with my little eye…” Leo started, the entire group looked over to Splinter, who had been quite vocal about his hatred for the game previously. He simply shrugged.  
“What do you spy, Leonardo?” he asked.  
“Something beginning with S”  
Raph leant a little closer to you and whispered “Sensei likes it here too much to be annoyed by eye spy”  
“When then I guess we’ll have to come back next year” you whispered back, resting your head on his shoulder.  
“Is it smoke?” Donnie asked, pointing to the smoke rising from the fire and occasionally blowing into people’s faces.  
“Nope”  
“Sheep” you suggested.  
“Y/N, there aren’t even any sheep around here” Casey said.  
“Sure there are, like 3 fields that way” you said, waving vaguely towards a distant field with white specks in it.  
“I’ll take your word for it” April said. “Is it sai?” she continued, pointing to the weapons at Raph’s waist (even on holiday, he didn’t feel safe without them).  
“Yep, well done. Your go, April”  
Eye spy continued for a few rounds, until everyone remembered that Splinter was right and it’s actually really boring.  
“We could tell stories” Donnie suggested, “isn’t that what people do around campfires?”  
“Yas! Scary stories!” Mikey cried.  
“Not scary ones, Mikey, it’s not dark enough for that yet” you complained.  
“Embarrassing ones, then” Leo said.  
“Now that I can get behind” Casey said, sitting up from the slouched position he’d sunk into over the time you’d been playing eye spy.  
“Y/N, did anyone ever tell you about Raph’s adventures with the Spy Roach?” Leo asked  
“Leo…” Raph warned.  
“I know that there was a giant mutant cockroach, that’s about it”  
“Oh you’re gonna love this one” Mikey said with a cackle, “tell her, Leo”  
“Leo…” Raph’s voice had a definite menacing tone to it now.  
“Shut up, Raph” you said, sitting on him with all your weight to try and keep him still.  
“Ok, so, Donnie created this cockroach with a camera on it” Leo started.  
“And it crawled up to us in the kitchen and Raph screamed his head off and the roach recorded it!” Mikey said excitedly.  
“Oooh I think I have that video on my phone somewhere” Donnie said, whipping out his T-phone.  
“Wait, you just have that on your phone?” Leo laughed.  
“Yup, never know when you might need to embarrass one of you guys”  
“Wait, so do you have stuff like that for all of us?” Leo asked, face falling.  
“Umm, no, no you’re fine, Leo” Donnie quite obviously lied. “Here it is”  
“Donnie give me that phone” Raph growled.  
“Not likely, Raph” Donnie said.  
“Donnie…”  
“No, Raph, I wanna see!” You complained, leaping off his lap and dashing round the fire to grab Donnie’s phone. Casey leapt onto Raph to hold him down while you watched the short clip of his face in utter terror. And then you watched it again. And again.  
“This shouldn’t be this funny” you said between laughter as Raph finally broke free of his captor. “Alright, alright, here’s your phone, Donnie” you said, laughing and chucking him the object before slumping back down next to your boyfriend.  
“Delete that right now, Donnie” Raph warned.  
“Not likely” he replied.  
“Wait, Donnie, when you said you needed to embarrass ‘you guys’, who does that include?” you asked, growing wary as you remembered the time Donnie caught you doing truly terrible dancing in your PJs while making food at midnight.  
“If I told you that, it would be giving the game away” he said, eyes narrowed.  
“Do you guys get the feeling that Donnie’s already switched sides and is now a full-blown evil genius?” you asked, looking at his face with a mixture of amusement and genuine concern.  
“It is a constant concern that I live with” Leo replied, all to seriously eyeing his brother up.  
“Then I nominate Donnie as the next victim of embarrassing stories” you said.  
“Oh, but which do we go with? There are so many good ones” Raph mused.  
“There’s the time he embarrassed himself in front of April” Leo suggested, “oh and the other time he embarrassed himself in front of April”  
“Don’t forget the time he embarrassed himself in front of April!” Mikey cut in.  
“Enough already!” Donnie complained.  
“Oh and the time he embarrassed himself talking to us about April!” Raph suggested.  
“Ok, guys, that’s enough” April said as Donnie shriveled into a ball of regret.  
“Ooh and there was that time, do you remember? The one when he embarrassed himself over April!” Casey said.  
“Don’t you start, Jones, you’ve been just as bad as me” Donnie warned.  
“What? No I haven’t”  
“Actually Casey…” Raph started to say.  
“Shut your mouth Raph” Casey threw back.  
“Indeed, it seems that both of you have quite the history of embarrassing yourselves” Splinter said with a sly smile.  
“Sensei, how much do you know about that?” Donnie asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.  
“More than you would like me to, my son” Splinter replied and Donnie was sorely tempted to disappear into his shell then and there, while Casey wished he had a shell to disappear into.  
“Fine, but what about Y/N?” Casey said, desperately trying to throw attention off himself and D.  
“What about me?”  
“Yeah Casey, what about her?” Raph asked.  
“There’s gotta be an embarrassing story about her”  
“Nah Casey, I’m the picture of elegance and grace at all times” you replied, then leant over to Raph and whispered “I can end your reputation among these people in a moment, keep your mouth shut”  
The way he looked at you filled you with dread. “Well, there was that time that-“  
He didn’t get any further as you shoved your half-toasted marshmallow into his mouth and cut him off mid-sentence. He spluttered and spat it out, then opened his mouth to continue.  
“Raph sucks his thumb while he sleeps!” you blurted out, desperately trying to stop him from revealing your most embarrassing moments.  
“That was one time!” He protested.  
“How do you know? You’re asleep when you do it”  
“Ok guys, maybe we should stop with the embarrassing stories. At this stage I have a vested emotional interest in these 2 actually staying together” Leo said.  
“Yes, that sounds like a good idea to me” you said, eyeing Raph warily, aware that at any moment he could shatter your reputation like you may have just shattered his. You were also very aware of how your bodies were in no way touching, which was unusual for the 2 of you when you sat together. Maybe you’d gone a little far.  
Raph noticed the worry starting to show on your face as you tried, and failed, to sneakily look at him. “Oh, come here you little brat” he said, affection lacing his words as he pulled you into his lap.  
“Love you too” you muttered, settling into his body.  
“Ooh does that mean I can tell a scary story now?!” Mikey cried.  
“Sure Mikey, go for it” April said, pulling a marshmallow toasted to perfection away from the fire.  
……….  
“And opening the door, he saw to his horror…” Mikey said, leaning forward so that the fire cast eerie shadows on his face, “that someone had eaten the last slice of pizza!”, he then proceeded to scream in what appeared to be genuine horror.  
“Alright, are you guys ready for an actual horror story?” Casey asked, eyes darkening as he completely ignored Mikey.  
“Haven’t you had enough horror stories in your real life, Jones?” Donnie asked, “it’s fine if Mikey tells it because it’ll only ever be about food running out”  
“Oi! That’s a terrifying thought!” Mikey protested.  
“Come on D, a campfire’s not complete without a good horror story to keep everyone awake at night” Casey said.  
“Fine, go for it then. I challenge you to terrify”  
“Challenge accepted”  
Casey proceeded to tell the classic campfire story. Vengeful spirit, something awful happened 50 years ago this very night, searching for people to take their anger out on yada yada. Maybe it would have creeped out another group of people, but not this lot.  
You leant forwards now, pulling up the hood of your jacket to hide your eyes in shadow.  
“Vengeful spirits are all well and good, but I have a story that will redefine your definition of fear, one that will stay with you long after the sun rises and we leave this place. You may leave now, and count yourself fortunate to have never lived through what is about to take place here tonight, or you can stay and transport yourself to a place you have never wanted to visit. So, what do you say, are you brave enough?”


	69. Story Time

“It’s a dark day, darker than is natural at any time of year. Your watch says it’s 3 0’clock, but it’s said that for the past month, you’re not sure why you keep wearing it really, perhaps it is as a source of comfort. After all, the last time it worked was before ‘they’ came. You can no longer consult your phone for the time, it’s with the others, providing a faint light for them to almost see by while you’re out here, trying to find something, anything, to eat.  
You were a child when the monsters came, innocent and ignorant. You are more than an adult now, even the adults are scared of what is out here. But you are not afraid, that is what you tell yourself. You are not allowed to be afraid.  
Fear makes you stronger, they say, and you almost wish you could be afraid because you need some strength to survive this day. But you can’t be, too much rides on your success for you to allow terror to jeopardize it.  
There! What was that sound? Maybe it was a rat, they’re everywhere after all. But there is no follow up sound, no telltale scutter that would comfort you into almost believing it was one of the abundant rodents.  
There is nothing. No sound now.  
That’s worse.  
They know you’re here.  
Every bone in your body screams at you to run, but that would be a fatal mistake. Your mission is not complete, you have nothing to show for your dangerous foray into this treacherous land. You promised them you’d bring food back.  
But is a little food worth possibly losing you? Without you there is no one to take charge, no one to care for them. No one to get more food.  
No, it is not worth it.  
You decide to head back, but that is not as easy as it sounds.  
They are here.  
They are watching.  
They are waiting.  
You cannot escape unless someone else steals their attention.  
There it is again, the sound. It is closer this time, and unmistakable.  
They are coming for you. Slowly but surely, they are coming.  
You start to turn, spinning on the balls of your feet millimeter by millimeter, hoping they cannot tell how fast your heart is beating.  
Who are you kidding? Of course they can tell.  
Another sound! Footsteps! Someone not too far away who has made their final mistake.  
They turn away, and you know this because you feel the weight of the gaze lifted. They’re moving away, heading for their other victim.  
They will be back for you, this you know with painful clarity, but perhaps you can survive another day.  
You continue to spin around painfully slowly, until you hear the screams of the person too close for comfort as they realise they have lost this deadly game of hide and seek.  
Now is your chance!  
While they are distracted, you run. Sprinting faster than you ever would have been able to before all of this happened, before you knew what it was like to run for your life.  
You leap obstacles Olympians couldn’t clear, desperate to put as much space between you and them as possible. Perhaps you will make it, but you do not allow yourself to believe it yet, that’s how you get killed.  
You keep running at your previously impossible pace until you know you have escaped because you are nearly back with the others. A short climb then a painful drop down and you’re back, your companions, those who rely on you, are just around the corner.  
Then why can you not hear them?  
They’re silent, they have to be to survive here, but even with that in mind you should be able to sense the presence of all those bodies huddled together and breathing.  
You hold your breath and listen. Nothing. Nothing but the beating of your own heart.  
But then, a sound. A small bleep that you know to be your phone complaining of low battery. You rush around the corner, taking in the darkened room by the light of your phone flashing in the middle of it.  
There is no one here.  
That is not true.  
Your companions are gone, taken, but you are not alone.  
There is no escape.  
You sink to your knees by your phone, it is on 5%.  
You watch as it turns to 4%. Then 3, then 2. When it dies you will have no light.  
They are waiting for that. They want you to be afraid when they take you.  
You are afraid.  
1%  
A sob is building in your chest and you don’t know how to hold it any longer.  
Your phone flashes one last time and then dies, letting out one last pitiful vibration to say goodbye.  
The room is dark.  
You release your sob.  
They are here”

 

The circle around the fire was silent as you finished talking. You sat back, smiling to yourself.  
“Um, Y/N, who are they?” Casey asked. You shrugged.  
“Who knows, Casey”  
This didn’t seem to be the answer he was hoping for.  
“Damn Y/N, I think you win campfire stories” Donnie said.  
“Yeah, and now we’re all worried about you” Leo said, you laughed.  
“Oh, come on guys, it’s just a story” you said grinning.  
“Alright, guys! I’ve got another one!” Mikey cried, leaning forward and launching into another story about food.  
Raph pulled you in close so that he could talk without the others hearing. “You sure that was just a story?”  
“Why, you afraid?” you teased him.  
“Come on, you know what I mean. Was it true?”  
“It might have been based loosely, very loosely, upon my own experiences” you admitted.  
“In the Kraang invasion?”  
You didn’t say anything in return but he knew he was right.  
“Babe” he whispered, pulling you in to his side.  
“Oh hush, it’s fine” you said, helping yourself to another marshmallow, then shoving another one into Raph’s mouth before he could worry himself any further about what you might or might not have been through.  
Mikey came to a predictable end to his story, food being eaten or missing, and the heat from the fire coupled with the comfortable company started to lull you into sleep.  
“Do you wanna go inside?” Raph asked but you shook your head.  
“Nah, it’s a clear night, we can sleep out here if you want”  
“Oi Mikey, blanket” Raph called and Mikey chucked you one from the pile beside him, which Raph pulled over the 2 of you. April was already tucked up in a blanket and slipping away into sleep, with Casey loudly snoring resting his head on his log seat next to you, with Donnie drifting off where he sat opposite.  
You tucked yourself more securely into his side and allowed your eyes to close, letting the crackling of the fire and the gentle murmur of voices lull you into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So are we all excited for Halloween?  
> I've got 2 costumes for 2 seperate events, one is a dead pirate but the other is for a 'Heroes and the Villains' themed social so I'm going as a certain red-clad turtle with an attitude problem. Because who else was I supposed to go as?


	70. Home

It’s always hard to leave a holiday, if it’s been a good one. And it had been a good one. The chance to escape the looming buildings and poisonous air of the city was refreshing. The break had done its job, allowing the group to recharge and memories of past horrors to fade a little under the burning sun.  
But the week ended far, far too soon and the day came that you were packing all of your belongings back into the van. You were lifting your suitcase into the back when a familiar piece of brightly coloured plastic thudded into your arm and fell to the floor. You looked down at the frisbee then across to Raph, standing a few meters away. He shrugged.  
“One last game?” he asked.  
“We can still play frisbee back in New York, Raph” you said.  
“Where exactly? The lair’s big and all but it’s a game that was made for the outdoors”  
You conceded the point with a nod, bending to pick up the frisbee and looking at it as if pondering. “I dunno, Raph, we gotta be off soon, we might not have time to -Leo!”, before you finished the sentence you threw the frisbee off to Leo who was standing in the doorway.  
Leo, caught off guard, allowed the frisbee to hit his shoulder. “What?” he asked, slightly annoyed.  
“You were supposed to catch it” you explained.  
“And how was I supposed to do that with my hands full of bags?”  
He had a point there. “I thought you were supposed to be a ninja” you said.  
“Yeah, but I’m not a superhero”  
“Actually dude, you guys are pretty much superheroes at his point” Casey called from inside the van where he was arranging the bags you brought to him.  
“Wait? We’re superheroes?!” Mikey called from inside, and a few seconds later he leapt through the doorway in a cape.  
“Where the shell did you get that cape?” Raph asked.  
“That’s for me to know and you to find out”  
“I don’t think we want to find out” Donnie complained.  
“I take it that’s a no to the frisbee idea then” Raph grumbled, collecting the toy when Leo kicked it over to him.  
“I tried, sorry babe” you said.  
“Fine, let’s just finish this thing and go”  
“Oh, don’t be like that. When we get home, we can play frisbee with Chompy, the lair’s probably big enough for that” you promised.  
“Just don’t burn the place down” Donnie warned, “I still don’t trust Chompy not to accidentally kill us all”  
“He’s been getting much better at controlling the fire thing” Raph said, tickling the ever-present flame turtle on his shoulder, who then proceeded to burb a small cloud of flame and nearly burning Raph in the process.  
“If he burns you I’m gonna be mad” you said, tickling Chompy too.  
“He won’t”  
“If he burns me I’m gonna be mad!” Donnie called.  
“Can’t promise that. He likes me, don’t know if he likes you” Raph replied, taking Chompy off his shoulder and placing him in the van. You loaded the last of the stuff into the van and squashed everyone in after it.  
“Do you know where you’re going this time, Casey?” Donnie asked, “don’t want us getting lost like last time”  
“I know where I’m going, doofus” he threw back, turning to April and, in a quieter voice that Donnie couldn’t quite make out from his position at the back, said “you know where we’re going, right?”  
You leant forward, you were sitting just behind him. “I know where we’re going Casey” you reassured him.  
“Great. Then let’s go!”

 

Holidays are great and all, but as much as you hadn’t wanted to leave you were glad to be home. The lair was exactly as you’d left it, and while it didn’t smell as good as the countryside and you were gonna miss the massive garden, this was still home, with the bust up old beanbag and the ancient TV you swore that you were gonna replace one day. You were gonna miss sharing a room with Raph, but there was a promise in the air that maybe your room, which was situated at the edge of the lair in one of the old subway rooms they hadn’t bothered doing anything with until your arrival, could be expanded to make it habitable for two.  
Plus, there was always next year. You had a suspicion that holidays like this were going to become a new tradition.


	71. You See Him Cry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cry sometimes.

You’d been home a few days and had quickly settled back into the rhythms of day-to-day life. It was a Saturday night and you’d stayed up late, probably too late but there was good TV on and you had nothing on tomorrow so who could blame you. Donnie was up too, although it was quite possible he’d fallen asleep at the desk in his lab at this point.  
The program you were watching finished and you were scanning the channels to see if there was something else you wanted to watch when your phone bleeped with a text, it was from Leo.  
‘You still up?’  
‘Yeah’  
‘I can hear weird noises coming from Raph’s room, thought you might be the best one to check’  
‘Ok, I’ll head up now. Thanks’  
‘Weird noises’ wasn’t exactly very descriptive, and so as you headed upstairs you had no idea what you were going to be faced with. You best bets were that he was either having a nightmare or playing with Chompy, both very different but equally frequent occurrences unfortunately. You didn’t bother to knock as you reached his door, you’d seen him at his best and at his worst so knocking didn’t seem entirely necessary at this point. At least, you thought you’d seen him at his worst.  
“Raph? You ok up here?” you asked as you carefully pushed the door open. Raph was sat on his bed, Chompy on his lap.  
“Y/N, what are you doing up here?” he asked, turning away so that you couldn’t see his face and wiping his eyes.  
“Are you crying?”  
“What, no. I don’t cry”, he was still refusing to look at you.  
“Everyone cries” you said, sitting next to him on the bed.  
“Yeah, well, I’m not everyone”  
You put a gentle hand on his chin and brought his face round to look at you. Despite his best efforts, there were still clear tear tracks down his face and his eyes were still flooding with tears. “No, but you’re someone. What’s wrong, Raph?”  
“Nothing’s wrong” he insisted, pulling away from your grasp and wiping away fresh tears. You decided a change of tact might work better, and so scooped up the small flame turtle on Raph’s knee.  
“There’s something wrong, isn’t there Chompy? Something not quite right with your daddy. Do you know what it is?”, Chompy squirmed and you tickled his chin. “Something’s so wrong that Raph won’t come to me with it. What do we think’s changed?”  
You shuffled backwards to lean against the wall and Raph sank down so that his head was on your shoulder in a reversal of your usual positions. “Nothing’s changed, princess” he muttered.  
“Then what’s the same but is so wrong that it makes you cry?”  
He said nothing, but his lack of denial was enough to show you were on the right track.  
“It’s ok not to be ok, y’know. Even mutant ninja turtles have to break sometimes”  
He still said nothing. You placed Chompy down on the bed next to you and took Raph’s hand.  
“Tell me what’s upsetting you” you said.  
He shook his head. “It’s fine”  
“It’s not fine, Raph, something’s upsetting the guy I love and, of the things that are ok, that is not one”  
“That’s why you weren’t supposed to catch me doing it”  
“That wouldn’t help anyone, now would it”  
“Look, it’s fine, just leave me alone”, you could hear the harsh note in his voice which told you he was converting whatever he was feeling into anger.  
“Oh no you don’t” you said, doing the only thing that was guaranteed to melt the anger away and bring the vulnerability back, kissing him gently on the lips. “I’m not leaving you to cry alone, that’s not what we do to each other”  
He sighed. “I wouldn’t ever want you to cry alone” he said.  
“Exactly. And if our roles were reversed, what would you do?”  
“I’d take you in my arms and kiss you and tell you it was ok until you were ready to talk”  
You responded by turning your body to wrap around him, pulling him closer into your arms and gently kissing his head. “I’m not leaving your side” you whispered, kissing him again. You felt the last shreds of his resistance melt.  
“Do you ever have those nights when the world is so quiet that all you can hear is your own thoughts? And you can’t stop them coming as all the things you try not to think about insist on being thought until you’ve dragged yourself into this dark hole where all there is for you is the worst parts of your brain, all the insecurity and regret that you can’t bury no matter how hard you try”  
“I know those nights all too well”  
“Well tonight is one of those”, he sighed and closed his eyes.  
“And what’s in this hole of yours?”  
“I just… I just wanna be good enough. Good enough for you, good enough for Sensei, good enough for my brothers”  
“You are good enough, Raph”  
“If I was good enough, Y/N, you wouldn’t have to live in a sewer to be with me. If I was good enough my brothers and father wouldn’t constantly have to fight my anger. If I was good enough-”  
“You are good enough”, you cut across what you feared might be a very long list of inadequacies. “You’re more than good enough. You don’t need to be perfect, you don’t even need to be close to that. We love you, we are never going anywhere. And sure, there are things about you that annoy me, that I might sometimes wanna change, but there’s stuff about me that annoys you”  
“I don’t want you to change, you’re perfect”  
“I’ll remind you of that next time I’m annoying the shell off you. But my point is, we love you just as you are and, though I may not have consulted with the others, I’m sure they would agree with me when I say you’re more than good enough. I don’t give a damn about living in a sewer if it means I live with you, and besides, this place is better than anywhere I’d ever live on the surface. And yeah, sometimes I wish I could show you off to the world and prove to them that I got myself the best damn guy in New York, but that doesn’t bother me as long as I come home at the end of the day to my perfect family of freaks. And as for your anger, have you not noticed how much better you’ve been? It’s a problem, but we all have problems and we don’t all have the good grace to own up to them and work on getting better. However, the most important thing I have to say is this: it’s ok to cry, you’ve got more reason to than most after everything you’ve been through, but don’t think that makes you weak, and don’t think you have to do it alone”  
All he gave you in reply was “Thank you, for being here”  
“Don’t mention it. Now come on, come watch crap TV with me so neither of us have to think”  
You grinned at him and got up, pulling Raph with you. He did as he was told and obediently followed you downstairs to crash in the beanbag with a terrible competitive baking program. You watched loud people building sculptures out of cake and made sarcastic commentary until Raph eventually joined in.  
When morning rolled around, Raph woke up in your bed with you tangled up with him. Neither of you said anything about the night before, it was one of the unspoken rules of your relationship that the worst moments were banished to the past, the pain that night tended to reawaken was banished to the hours of darkness.  
But you both remembered, and the next time Raph thought himself into a dark hole he sent you a text and you came and pulled him out.


	72. Playing with Chompy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me-ee, happy birthday to me.  
> Yes, it is my birthday, and my tradition is to update fanfic on my b-day, I've done it for 4 or 5 years now, so here you go! Emjoy!

Of the various members of the strange household in which you found yourself a part, it’s safe to say that Chompy, Raph’s pet baby flame turtle from space, was one of the more unusual, which was saying something. He was also possibly the most dangerous as he both burped and farted flame and seemed either unable or unwilling to control these abilities. As such, time spent with Chompy was rather risky business.  
Unfortunately, he was also absolutely adorable, which made spending time with him essential.  
Raph was completely besotted with his little friend, so much so that you would almost have been jealous of the time they spent together if you weren’t nearly just as in love with the little guy. This made the two of you playing with him together a completely necessary activity.  
Play with Chompy mostly involved you and Raph holding action figures and making them cower away from the alien in fear. Occasionally you brought boxes and furniture into it so that he could stomp an imaginary city, he seemed to enjoy this the most. Sometimes you’d play something a little more innocent, hide and seek, fetch etc., but Chompy never seemed to be having as much fun as he did when he could kick down an imaginary block of flats.  
It was on one occasion like this, watching the purple baby barge into a box that for some reason Raph had decided was a hospital of all things, that you began to ponder the implications of his preferred style of play.  
“You don’t think we’re teaching him bad habits, do you?” you asked Raph.  
“What do you mean?”  
“Well, it’s just that he’s a space monster and we seem to be teaching him to crush cities. He’s hardly going against stereotypes right now”  
Raph looked down at Chompy, now storming is way through a street of houses. “Oh come on, he’s just playing, he’s only a baby. He’s never gonna remember any of this”  
“He’s very impressionable at this age”, you scooped Chompy up and started tickling his tummy, being rewarded with adorable gurgles, “one day he’ll be enormous, and we don’t want him to have a preference for crushing cities”  
“Yeah, but by the time he’s that big we’ll be dead and gone, won’t be our problem”  
“I worry about your attitude to raising a baby”  
“It’s not like Chompy is a typical baby” he replied, taking Chompy from you so he could tickle the little guy himself.  
“And what if we ever had a kid? Would you teach them to kill people?”  
Raph froze from tickling Chompy and looked up at you. Neither of you had ever mentioned children. The moment stretched out in silence until he eventually answered the question. “If we ever had a kid, I’d teach them to fight to save people, like we do”, you couldn’t help but notice the emphasis he put on the word ‘if’. Silence crept back in until Raph spoke again. “Besides, it’s not like we’re likely to find out, right? I mean, can we even have kids?”, he was trying to remain casual, trailing a finger up and down Chompy’s tummy, but you could feel the weight of his gaze as he glanced up at you.  
“I… I don’t know. I don’t know how human you are, how human you’d have to be to… for it to be possible for us to have kids. Maybe we’re just too different”  
“But if we could, would you wanna?”  
This conversation was spiraling far into the realms of serious relationship talk, but you were in too deep to back out now. “Yeah, one day, I guess. I always saw it somewhere in my future, but I haven’t really thought about it since I moved here. Would you?”  
Raph hesitated longer than you’d done. Before you the idea had never been even close to possible, growing up the concept of parenthood had never been part of his equation for the future. But now things were different, and the idea of a tiny piece of him and you running around appealed.  
“Yeah, sure, one day”  
You smiled at him. “Glad to hear it”


	73. What Happened When He Lost Control

The funny thing about time is that no one can affect its steady march forwards. No matter how much you may want to, you can’t make time reverse or stop. It always keeps going, the clock keeps ticking.  
But not today.  
It was morning, fairly early, and you and the turtles were training with Splinter in the dojo. That wasn’t exactly unusual, in fact it was what you did most days. Only on this day, at this moment, time was completely frozen.  
The training session had come to a complete stand still, 2 seconds stretching out for an eternity as those in the room tried to process what had just happened.  
Then those 2 seconds were up, and time unfroze. Raph’s face turned from angry to horrified as he realized what had happened. What he’d done.  
The turtles had been engaged in a free-for-all, last turtle standing type thing. You weren’t good enough to join in yet, so you’d sat out, and Mikey and Donnie inevitably joined you as the fight came down to just Leo and Raph, like it always did. Raph wasn’t good at last turtle standing. Oh, he could physically win, sure enough, but he could rarely engage in one without getting riled up to a dangerous level.  
He’d lost control. He’d wanted to hurt Leo, hated the words his brother used to provoke him. The anger made his skin crawl and his brain burn, containing it was too damn hard. You’d stepped in then, calling for the boys to stop, seeing that someone was gonna get hurt.  
They’d ignored you, so you’d gone over. They’d seen you approach, but neither of them wanted to back down, too caught up in the heat of the moment to admit it had gone too far. They stared each other down, fire in their eyes.  
Leo had always known exactly how to push Raph’s buttons, and he did so willingly.  
You could see the way Raph’s body was tensing, readying for a surge forward, but you were having none of it. You put your arm out, grabbing his shoulder and yelling at him to stop, to walk away before someone got hurt.  
But Raph hadn’t been listening to reason, he’d acted on instinct when he felt your hand close around his arm, lashing out without a single thought, turning on you for one terrifying moment, hand connecting with your arm with enough force to send you staggering away.  
That was when time had frozen, the group struggling to believe that Raph had hit you.  
They could believe Raph capable of hitting anybody else, but not you.

Leo reacted first, launching forward and grabbing his brother, dragging him away and meeting no resistance as Raph’s anger disappeared in a heartbeat.  
You staggered away, too shocked to react as you found yourself wrapped protectively in Mikey’s arms. Your upper left arm hurt like hell, destined to bruise horribly. You were still struggling to react as Leo started yelling.  
“What the hell are you doing?” Leo asked, nearly screaming at his brother, relinquishing his grasp just long enough to turn Raph and pin him against the wall.  
Raph wasn’t able to respond, beyond words as the guilt hit him.  
“Leonardo, let him go” Splinter said, the only person in the room who seemed to have remained collected enough to deal with things.  
“Sensei, he hit Y/N!” Leo cried.  
“And do you really think he’s going to do it again?” Splinter asked calmly. Leo hesitated, then released his grip, but he placed himself solidly between Raph and you.  
“Donatello, Michelangelo, take Y/N and make sure she’s ok. I would like to talk to Raphael alone”  
You were still carefully contained within Mikey’s arms, unable to look at Raph, whose face showed nothing but regret and horror. Mikey and Donnie took you to the lab, Leo going to the kitchen to fetch ice under the tallest brother’s orders. You sat on the edge of the medical bed, hand clutching your throbbing arm.  
“Are you ok?” Donnie asked you, trying to catch your eye as you stared blankly ahead. “Y/N?”, this time his voice was firmer and you reacted, looking at him.  
“He didn’t mean to do it” you said, “it was an accident”  
“He hit you, Y/N, that’s not cool” Mikey said.  
“No, it’s fine, really” you protested, but you were still clinging to your arm. Donnie carefully peeled your fingers away, revealing the angry red skin beneath. You winced as he carefully touched the edges.  
“Y/N, this is many things, but fine isn’t one” Donnie said, then raising his voice and calling towards the door, “Leo, where’s that ice?!”  
“I’m here” Leo said, entering the lab and handing Donnie the ice pack, which he applied to your arm and taped in place.  
“That should calm the swelling but it’s gonna be an ugly bruise”  
“You ok, Y/N?” Leo asked, sitting next to you.  
“I’m fine, guys, it’s nothing” you assured them, but you hoped they couldn’t see the way you couldn’t stop trembling.  
Of course they noticed it.  
You didn’t protest as Donnie wrapped a blanket around your shoulders, or when Leo picked you up and carried you to the sofa to watch Super Robo Mecha Force Five, where you buried down into Mikey’s arms again and tried not to think about Raph alone with Splinter in the dojo.


	74. Shut In

When the others left, Raphael fell to his knees in front of his father. Splinter knew there was nothing he needed to say, his son knew exactly how bad things were. But he spoke anyway, forcing his son into openly acknowledging what had happened.  
“It’s been a long time since you and I have been here, my son”  
Raph said nothing.  
“I thought we were passed all of this. You had been doing so well, mostly thanks to the person you just harmed”  
Still, Raph said nothing.  
“What happened. Raphael?”  
“I… I got angry. I wasn’t thinking. I… I hit her” he managed to force out.  
“Who did you hit?”  
“Y/N, I hit Y/N” he admitted, closing his eyes as he did so.  
“Get up, my son” Splinter instructed, “Come and join me.” Splinter went to sit beneath the tree and Raph moved to sit in front of him.  
“I don’t know how to make this right, sensei. There’s nothing I can do to make this ok. I messed up, I’ve ruined everything”, there were tears in Raph’s eyes as he admitted to his father his worst fears. “I don’t want to hurt her, I don’t want to lose her”  
“You’re not going to lose her over this, Raphael. Doubtless, once we have all had a chance to calm down and process things, you will go to her and throw yourself at her mercy. And she will forgive you”  
“How could she forgive me?”  
“Because she loves you just as much as you love her. And she knows, just as I do, that you did not mean to harm her and that you will never do so again”  
Relief streamed into Raph’s eyes, although the anguish remained.  
“I believe it is time you and I had a conversation that has been coming for a while. It concerns your relationship with Y/N”  
“What about it, Sensei?”  
“If I am not mistaken, you have been together not too far off a year now, correct?”  
“Yes”  
“I’ll be honest, throughout your childhood I never truly considered the possibility that any of you would ever have a serious relationship with a human, however as you grew older and ventured into the world it became clear that the idea was not a complete impossibility. Now that Y/N is clearly here to stay, and has been for some time, I’m sure your mind has begun to turn to the future”, Splinter then paused to give Raph a chance to confirm or deny.  
“It has, yes”  
“And what is it you hope that future holds?”  
“I hope it holds me and Y/N together for the rest of our lives. I’m starting to hope that it holds a family. And maybe… Maybe it involves going somewhere else, starting our own home somewhere”  
“And Y/N? What do you think she wants?”  
“She wants kids, I know that much. We were talking, saying that one day we’d try and work out if it was possible. I just want to make her happy, give her everything she could possibly want”  
“How is it you intend on doing that?”  
“I can’t, I know that. I can’t give her all the comforts of a normal life, I can’t take her out to do things like a normal couple. It’s quite likely that…”, Raph paused, struggling to admit both to himself and to his father the thought that he never wanted to admit to, “that I can’t even give her kids. I’m a damn mutant turtle, the chance of that even being possible is tiny, I know that. But I’m gonna keep working on everything I can achieve. I’m gonna work on making my anger better, I’m gonna take fewer risks so that I’m still around at the end of the day. I will never betray her, I will stay with her for as long as she’ll have me, and I will never go a day without telling her I love her”  
Splinter listened carefully to all of this, looking at his son with indescribable pride. Raphael had been the biggest cause of grief for him while raising the 4 boys, he had caused Splinter much worry about who he would become. The greatest hopes the rat had held for his hot-headed student in his younger days was that he would grow up to learn to control his anger better, and that perhaps he might be able to mostly channel it into his training. But the mature, responsible young man who stood before him now, acknowledging his flaws and promising to improve upon them, vowing to do all he could for the woman he loved, was a symbol of just how far he had come, and just how far he might yet go. When Raph stopped talking, Splinter smiled.  
“And I wish you all the best in these aims, my son. Now go to her, she needs you”  
“Thank you, sensei”  
Raph stood up without another word and headed to the door, pausing before he opened it, too afraid of what he might face on the other side. Splinter knew exactly what he was thinking.  
“She loves you, Raphael. And, right now she is as scared and confused about what happened as you. Go to her”  
Raph took a deep breath, then left the room.

The group on the sofa looked up at the sound of the door opening. You felt Mikey’s arms tighten around you as Raph emerged. No one said anything for a very long moment.  
“Can I… Can I talk to Y/N, please?” Raph asked, the most submissive anyone had ever seen him. Mikey held you even tighter.  
“It’s ok” you said to him, peeling his arms off you, “it’s ok”  
“I don’t know” Leo said, reluctant to leave you with him.  
“He’s not going to hurt me again, guys. You know he isn’t” You reasoned, and the way Raph flinched at the word ‘again’ was evidence enough of your words.  
“Alright, but we’re not going far. And if I hear anything I don’t like I’ll be back here in a heartbeat” Leo said, glaring at his brother.  
“I’m not gonna touch her, Leo. I don’t wanna hurt her” Raph said, and his voice was so broken that Leo’s anger stalled long enough for him to relent.  
“I know, Raph” he said, and he followed the others into the lab.  
That left just the two of you.  
“Y/N, I am so, so sorry” Raph said, breaking down in front of you, unable to meet your eyes, “I wasn’t thinking, I was an idiot. I will never let anything like that happened ever again”  
He still didn’t really expect you to believe him, his heart was already breaking in anticipation of what you might say next. Then you said the one thing he couldn’t allow himself to believe you would.  
“I know, Raph. It’s ok. I forgive you”  
“You… You do?”  
“I do. I know who and what you are, and from what the others tell me of what you used to be like you have worked so hard to improve. If anything, I’m proud of how well you’ve done. This is a singular, isolated incident, and right now I’m just far too shaken to be mad at you. What I really need is for you to make it all ok”  
Raph knew what ‘make it all ok’ meant, so he breathed a sigh of relief and carefully sat down next to you. You leant against him, dragging his arms around you and burying your face in his neck. Slowly he relaxed, curling you closer into him and stroking your hair with one hand, tangling loose strands around his finger.  
“It’s ok, baby, I’m gonna keep you safe. I’m gonna protect you from everything the world throws at us. I’m gonna be here for you for as long as you let me” he whispered to you, continuing to reassure you as you allowed the shock, the fear and all of the upset to drain away.  
“I love you” you muttered against his skin.  
“I love you too, and I’m gonna spend all of my life showing you just how much”


	75. He Saves Your Life

Saving people was what the turtles did best. Actually, if we’re being strictly accurate, what they did best was eating pizza, but that sounds far less impressive. My point is, saving people was what they did, whether it was saving the whole world or just one person, or any number in between. This meant that saving one person while out on patrol was no big deal really, and unless it required an immense amount of skill or effort, tended to go almost unnoticed, that’s how common it was.  
If it was you who’d needed saving, on the other hand, that was a completely different matter.  
If one of the others had saved you, then Raph would have shown himself to be completely genuine with them for once and thanked them, even if just with a look.  
If it was Raph who saved you, however…  
Well, he was insufferable.

It was a simple enough mistake. You were fighting some particularly tenacious foot, one of them had climbed a building while you were all tied up in the fight, and had sent some masonry falling down into the group. You dived out of one piece of chimney and into the path of another, noticing too late what was happening. You didn’t even have time to register the arm that wrapped around your waist and dragged you away, leaving you staggering in shock. Another hand joined the first, stabilising you, and you finally had a chance to see Raph stood by you, arm around your waist and hand on your shoulder. He grinned, visibly shaken.  
“That was way too close, eh Princess”  
“You can say that again. Thanks, Raph”  
He took a breath and seemed to calm, a trademark smirk replacing his shaky smile as he picked up his weapons from where he’d dropped them in his haste to move you.  
“Don’t mention it, just call me Prince Charming”, he said, swishing nonexistent silky locks and spinning his sai before turning back to finish off the last of the Foot (Feet?). You shook your head to yourself, readjusting your grip on your own weapons.  
“Might have been better if the damn stuff had hit me” you muttered sarcastically, knowing that Raph was gonna milk this for all it was worth.  
You weren’t wrong.

You were climbing a fire escape later that evening and he swept you off your feet, causing you to squeal in surprise.  
“Sorry for surprising ya, princess. Just didn’t want you to have to climb these stairs on your own, might be dangerous”  
You clambered out of his grasp. “It was one mistake. I jumped the wrong way, that’s all” you huffed, readjusting your clothes which he had moved out of place (ninja do not look rumpled!).  
“Yeah, and I saved you”, he did that swish of his imaginary locks again.  
“And I am very grateful. But I think I can manage stairs alone”  
“If you say so, but I better go behind you, just in case”

Later, he stopped you from jumping a small gap between two rooves.  
“Are you sure that’s safe, Y/N? Wouldn’t want you to get hurt”  
“Raph, a toddler could cross this gap” you said, hands on hips  
“Just to be on the safe side, maybe I should go first, I’ll help you over”  
You bit back a sarcastic retort and huffed out a breath as he crossed the gap effortlessly, leaning over to help you with exaggerated care.  
“What is going on with you two?” Leo asked as you stepped onto the other side and glared at him.  
“Raphael here pulled me out of the way of some masonry in that fight and now he’s being insufferable about it”  
“I just don’t wanna see you get hurt, that’s all” he replied, and you couldn’t tell if genuine concern or being a smartass motivated the statement.  
“Fine, but I’m gonna save your ass one day and you won’t hear the end of it for days”  
He just grinned.  
“I look forward to it”


	76. You Save His Life

Raph was much better at fighting than you, that went without saying, he’d been doing it for so long and you were still fairly new to the vigilante business. But you’d promised to save his life and you meant it. You had been thinking about it more and more recently and starting to realise what a burden you actually were to the group. You needed saving far more often than any of the others and it wasn’t a good feeling. It was becoming a constant worry that one day you might get one of them hurt when they were dealing with one of your slip ups.  
So yeah, you were on the look out for a chance to prove yourself to them all, but especially to Raph. You wanted to show him that you were good enough for him. You desperately wanted to be good enough for him. Desperately wanting to be good enough seemed to be a theme on both sides of your relationship.  
Not that you wanted him to need saving, of course, but it was a fact of your lives that the turtles went into danger on a regular basis, as did you when you accompanied them on patrol and ended up in a fight.  
Your chance came a few weeks later, you’d decided to accompany the boys in search of a rogue mutant who had been causing chaos on the streets. The mutant appeared to retain little of their human intelligence and was running entirely on animal instinct, which did make them fairly predictable. On the flip side, they also fired razer sharp knives made of bone from their hands, so there was that. Cool, but deadly.  
You’d chased the mutant into a warehouse with the intention of catching them and removing them somewhere far from humans. The plan was simple, and had been going well, up until the point where you lost them in the warehouse. You stood together, slightly spread out, in the center of the large open space, very aware that at any moment a knife could come flying from somewhere at you.  
You noticed them first, crouching high above on a beam, hand pointing at the group in the moment before they fired. Time slowed down for you, but not enough to give you a chance to warn everyone. They didn’t know you’d seen them and were aiming directly at your boyfriend, stood maybe a meter from you. Reacting with speed you didn’t know you had, you leapt over to Raph and dragged him forward and down, throwing him and yourself to the floor as the knife shot towards you with terrifying speed and power. The blade sliced through the air where Raph had been, and where you now were, slicing across your arm and down, leaving a shallow cut across your abdomen.  
It wasn’t serious, only shallow, luckily, but all Raph saw when he looked at you was blood streaked across your torso and he freaked. “Oh my god, Y/N!”  
You looked at your arm first, establishing it was just a scratch, then you pulled up your shirt and saw blood, which scared you. After a second you realised it was superficial and calmed down.  
“It’s fine, I’m fine, it’s just a scratch” you reassured him. Donnie moved in anyway, took one look and agreed with you.  
“She’s fine, just a scratch. Best to get home though, clean it up”  
Raph took a breath, satisfied you weren’t badly hurt, and then turned his attention to annoyance. “What the hell were you doing?! You could have died!”  
“I was saving your dumb ass” you snapped back, “like I promised”  
He wrapped his arms around you protectively. “Don’t you ever do that again, do you hear?”  
“What? Save your life?”  
“Put yourself in harm’s way for me”  
“Well you do it all the time for me, Raph. I just want to do the same. I don’t want you hurt anymore than you want me hurt”  
“I’m serious, Y/N”  
He looked it, too. Eyes wide and steady as he stared at you, emotions raw from the last few hectic moments and terrified by just how close you’d come to getting really, properly hurt.  
“You’re all I’ve got, I can’t lose you”  
“What about us? You’ve got us” Mikey whined, only to get a punch on the arm from Leo.  
“Shush, they’re having a moment”  
“They always have moments, we never get any” he pouted.  
“When you get a girlfriend, Mikey, you can have all the moments you want” Donnie said, “now come on, it may not be serious but Y/N is bleeding all over the place”  
You were fine, Raph knew, but that didn’t stop him worrying, couldn’t calm the fear in the back of his mind. He’d nearly lost you, because you’d been saving him. He would be more careful, he couldn’t put you in that situation again. You seemed relatively unfazed, scrolling through your phone while Mikey watched TV in the background, but he sat himself beside you and pulled you into his side.  
“What’s this about?” You asked, looking up.  
“Nothin’, just wanted to be near you, that’s all” he replied.  
You knew better, of course. You knew what he was really thinking, and the bandage wrapped across your middle reminded you of why.  
You didn’t regret it of course, putting your life on the line to save his was absolutely worth it in your mind. But it brought home how trivial your worries of before had seemed. Proving yourself meant nothing if you were dead, especially not to Raph.  
Saving each other was good, but just having each other was better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, guys! I just discovered the 'read aloud' option on my laptop while posting this and listened to a computer read this whole chapter. it's like my fanfic is a really bad audiobook and I love it!!!!!!


	77. Don't Mess With PMS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is the 3rd period related chapter, but I will write period chapters until I die! And no one can stop me!
> 
> So we've done crying, cramps, and now we're gonna do inexplicable rage. Enjoy.

Leo was afraid, Leo was very afraid. He wasn’t sure what he’d done, but whatever it was it was clearly very bad. He needed help.  
He’d been with Y/N in the kitchen, doing the washing up, he’d been washing and she’d been putting away. They’d been chatting perfectly happily, but it was clear she wasn’t in the best state of mind, getting overly aggressive when she couldn’t fit a pan in the cupboard because of someone else’s poor stacking previously. She managed to get it in and under control and seemed to calm down, so Leo let it go, always wary of girls in inexplicably bad moods now ever since Donnie’s talk with him and his brothers about periods… That was a time he would much rather forget, but it was seared onto his memory like trauma and he knew that to forget it could mean death – apparently.  
The boys had never discussed what had gone on in that room and, as such, Mikey and Leo’s educations on the subject had gone no further than understanding a few off-hand remarks about it they’d heard Y/N or April say.  
But Y/N’s rage against the kitchen had continued and, when she had been getting increasingly angry at the organisation of the cutlery draw, he had momentarily forgotten all of his training and asked her what was wrong.  
“Nothing’s wrong, it’s fine, I’m just pissed that no one can be bothered to sort this bloody thing out” she snapped at him, slamming a fork down among the mess.  
“You could do it” he had suggested. If looks could kill, Leo would have been so dead.  
“I shouldn’t have to do it” she replied, and Leo was pretty sure she could have breathed fire if she’d wanted. “You boys shouldn’t be happy living in this chaos”  
The draw was slammed shut and the anger seemed to dissipate. Leo breathed again.  
“Sorry, it just annoys me” she huffed.  
“Yeah, I’d noticed”  
The anger was back in an instant. “Oh, you had, had you? And what the hell does that mean?”  
“Nothing, It doesn’t mean anything, sorry”  
“Could you just-“ she started, voice dangerous, then she cut herself off – “no, it’s fine, sorry, it’s fine”, she didn’t sound particularly sorry, she sounded very much like someone controlling terrible anger. She sounded like Raph. That was not good.  
Y/N put a final mug away and stomped off, Leo following a safe distance behind. Raph was flicking through the TV and saw the two leave, glancing up at Y/N and opening his mouth to say something. She held up a hand.  
“Not right now, Raph. I need to just not” she said curtly, stalking straight off to her bedroom. Leo slinked out behind her, walking over to Raph and instinctively trying to make himself seem smaller.  
“Raph, help” he whispered.  
Y/N, who had not quite gone far enough away to be out of ear shot, span round. “What the fuck are you whispering about?” she asked.  
“Nothing, babe, it’s fine. He’s just an idiot, leave him be” Raph reassured her and she took a deep breath then continued on her way. She paused before she was too far away.  
“Raph, do you have any chocolate?”  
“You know I do”  
“Can I have it?”  
He smiled to himself. “I’ll bring it to you in a minute, just gotta laugh at Leo a bit first”  
“Good. Thank you”  
And then the one-woman hurricane was gone. Raph turned to Leo, a smirk on his face. “What did you do?”  
“I don’t know. She just seems really angry at me”  
“Leo, she’s not angry at you, she’s just angry”  
“Well she doesn’t seem to be angry at you”  
“That’s because I’m not a bumbling idiot”, Raph held up his T-phone which was flashing a notification at him that just said ‘Be very careful’  
Any other day, Leo would have been offended, but today he just wanted help.  
“Teach me your ways” he begged.  
“Nope”  
“Why not? Please! I’m begging you! She’s dangerous”  
He pretended to think about it. “Nah”  
“Why?”  
“It’s far more entertaining to watch you squirm”  
“Raph please”  
Raph just gave his brother a patronising pat on the shoulder. “I gotta go and make her day with a large bar of chocolate. I will give you one piece of advice, though. Don’t mess with PMS”  
“What the shell is that?”  
“Google it. Then try and track it, that way you won’t get caught out”  
“What are you on about?” Leo cried as Raph walked away. The red-clad brother didn’t answer, just grinned to himself. This was going to be very funny.


	78. Boys Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes all you need is a little chapter where nothing really happens, because life's full of times like that. Things can't move on in leaps and bounds every day, now can they? (Well, maybe they can move on just a little)

You were on your way home from work, about to slip down into the sewers, when a familiar voice called your name.  
“Y/N, wait!” Casey called, jogging up to you as you entered the alley the manhole was down.  
“Casey! Hi! How are you?”, you launched yourself into a quick hug.  
“I’m good, you?”  
“Yeah, good. You haven’t been down in a while”, Casey had been on a few patrols recently, but he’d not been hanging around the lair so much. You had your suspicions as to why.  
“Yeah, been meaning to come by, but I’ve been swamped, you know. It’s busy out here in the real world”, he lifted the manhole and you jumped down, Casey right behind you.  
“I live in the real world” you said indignantly.  
“You live in the crazy mutant world, you just visit reality”  
That was fair, you had to give him that. Life with the turtles was always closer to fiction than reality.  
“Is that really why you’ve been staying away? Or does a certain redhead have something to do with it?”  
“Absolutely not! I’ve just been really busy”, it was his turn to be indignant.  
“Oh come on, Casey. You’re sick of being embarrassed failing to flirt with April” you said, giving his arm a slight shove.  
“Am not. Who says I’m flirting?”  
“You, every time you open your fat mouth around her”  
“I have not been flirting”  
“No, I wouldn’t call it that either”, you were grinning at him.  
“Wait, no? What would you call it?”  
“Pathetic”  
“Ouch, Y/N, that hurt. What would you know about flirting anyway?”  
“I have a boyfriend, Casey, I’m doing better than you are”  
“From what I gather, your early days together consisted of him saving you repeatedly and the two of you drinking soda on your rooftop”  
“And here we are, a year later and he’s all mine. But fine, if you aren’t flirting with April then maybe you should go after one of the boys. I stand by what I said about you and Mikey, you could be adorable”, you reached across and squished his cheek at the adorable bit. He smacked you away.  
“Ewww dude, just no. Just because you’re into reptiles doesn’t mean I am”  
“Oh I dunno, you seem very offended. A little too offended, suspiciously so, if I might say so”  
“No, you might not”  
You laughed at him for a bit, while Casey tried to banish the image of him and Mikey from his mind. After a little bit you figured he’d suffered enough.  
“Seriously, though, the lair isn’t the same without your ugly, gap-toothed mug around”  
“I’m flattered”  
“I’m being serious, Casey. You gotta come round and inject some kinda sanity into them”  
“Yeah, I don’t really do the whole ‘sane’ thing”  
You looked him up and down, wrinkling your nose a bit. “Yeah, I’d have to agree”  
He stopped and looked down himself in horror. “What’s wrong with this?”  
You just kept walking, laughing. “Nothing, Casey, you’re a special, beautiful princess”  
You hopped over the turnstiles into the lair as he jogged to catch up with you, demanding you tell him what you’d been talking about. At the sound of Casey’s voice echoing off the walls, Raph emerged from his room and headed downstairs.  
“Casey! Bro! What brings you here?”  
What followed was the manliest of man-hugs.  
“Just came to see my best bro, didn’t I?”  
You looked at the two of them. You’d missed having Casey around, texting just wasn’t the same. But he was Raph’s best friend and you knew he’d missed it even more. There would be other times to chat with Casey, Raph could have him for tonight.  
“Right, well I’m knackered, think I’m gonna go get changed and shower and stuff. You do not wanna know the things I had to clean up at work today”  
“You sure?” Raph asked. He knew you enjoyed spending time with Casey. You just smiled.  
“Yeah, have fun you two”  
“Alright, I’ll see you later” Raph said, pulling you in for a quick kiss to say thank you. He knew you were just making an excuse for him to have time with his bro.  
“Just don’t get into too much trouble” you said with a grin.

 

Raph and Casey watched you walk away for a moment, before Casey started heading to the kitchen. “I’m thirsty, you got any soda?”  
“We have what I think must be the world’s entire supply of orange soda”  
“That’ll do me”  
The drinks were acquired. The boys talked about nothing in the way only good friends can manage, eventually ending up in Raph’s room, with Raph sat at his drum kit, sticks in hand but not playing, while Casey lay on the bed. The conversation lapsed into comfortable silence for a moment, Casey staring up at the ceiling and Raph watching Chompy walk across his drum kit. Casey was the one who said something first.  
“Have you and Y/N really been together a year?”  
Raph didn’t even need to think about it. “Yeah, pretty much, anniversary is in a week”  
“Man, doesn’t seem like that long ago we were rescuing her from those thugs. Who’d have thought then that you and her would be together?”  
“It feels like a lifetime ago to me” he replied, twizzling a drumstick in his hands. “It’s like I’m a completely different person”  
There was silence again for a moment, and again it was Casey who broke it.  
“Are you gonna marry her?”  
This time, Raph took more than a second to answer. This time, Raph was completely taken aback.  
“What the shell?”  
Casey rolled onto his front, so he could look at Raph.  
“Well, you love her, right? More than anything. And she loves you. And you wanna be with her forever. Correct?”  
“Well, yeah”  
“So what’s your problem? I’m not saying today, I’m not saying it has to be for ages. But are you gonna marry her?”  
Raph blinked a few times and Casey watched him expectantly. “Yeah, yeah, if she’ll have me”  
“Oh she’ll have you, once you turtle there’s no going back”  
“What the-? You’re nuts”, Raph chucked a drumstick at Casey’s head.  
“You’re not the first to say so”


	79. Big Sister

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff, anyone?

Every household is unique and has its own set of noises that are so ordinary that members don’t even look up. The Hamato household was far from typical, but this remained the case. These ‘normal’ noises could include minor explosions if they emanated from the lab, cries of pain or loud thumps if they came from the dojo, basically anything if it came from Mikey’s room, etc. One specific noise that was very common, potentially from anywhere in the lair, was someone angrily yelling ‘MIKEY!!!’  
Mikey was a serial screw-up. He brought his own element to the team, yes, and the group dynamic simply didn’t work without him, but that didn’t change the fact that, on a regular basis, he would break something, knock something over or just get something spectacularly wrong. It was tough, waring even. He did his best, he really did, but his brain worked differently to everyone else’s and often his version of how things should be just didn’t match up. His brothers loved him, he knew, but sometimes he struggled to believe it.  
For your first couple of weeks in the lair you’d been alarmed at the frequency with which such angry outcries were heard, and not just from your boyfriend. But as you’d grown accustomed to your new life you’d stopped worrying about it.  
Mikey could get on your wrong side, too, but notably less often than with his brothers. You adored Mikey and he adored you, he brought a level of unadulterated fun and childish joy into your life that you weren’t sure how you ever lived without. And you gave him someone who was willing to join him on his level, which was increasingly rare as the boys matured.  
One day you heard the usual cry of ‘MIKEY!!!!’, coming from what sounded like both Raph and Donnie. You didn’t look up, and wouldn’t have thought much more about it if you hadn’t been at the pinball machine and so well placed to notice the youngest brother heading out of the dojo. That wasn’t normal.  
“Where you going, Mikey?” you asked.  
“Out” his voice was tight, and the monosyllabic answer was far from his usual style.  
“You ok?”  
“Fine, I’m great, don’t worry about me”  
And then he was gone, and Raph and Donnie had entered. You rounded on them.  
“What did you do to Mikey?” you accused.  
“Us? What about him?” Donnie asked.  
“Oh, whatever he did I’m sure you’ll survive. He seems genuinely upset”  
That cut through their demeanors a little.  
“He shouldn’t have messed with our stuff then” Raph said, but there was no real venom in his voice. Their momentary anger gone, the two brothers were starting to think maybe they’d been a little too hard on him.  
“We didn’t mean to upset him. It’s just, he’s infuriating sometimes” Donnie explained.  
“I’m sure he’ll be delighted to hear that” you said, grabbing your jacket from where it was hung over the back of the sofa, intending to head off after Michelangelo.  
“Y/N, we’re really sorry, tell him that” Raph said, catching your hand.  
“You can tell him yourself when I bring him back” you said, then left.  
Mikey hadn’t got too far down the disused subway tunnel by the time you set off and you caught up to him quickly by jogging, calling out his name when he came into view.  
“Hey” you said as you drew alongside him, “you ok?”  
“I told you, I’m fine” he said, trying to hide his face as he wiped his eyes.  
“I know what you said, but I was giving you a chance to relent before I forced the truth out of you with excessive kindness and food”  
That made him look up. “What?”  
You put a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go to the surface, I’ll buy you an ice lolly”  
“You don’t have to”  
“Yeah, I do, come on”  
You went with him up to the surface, climbing to one of your favourite rooftops via a stall selling ice lollies, where you bought 2 orange ones. Once on the roof, you handed Mikey his treat. “Here, orange like my favourite little bro”  
He took it, but seemed to lack his usual exuberance as you tucked into your sweets. You took a few licks before launching into the real conversation you needed to have. “What happened between you and the others?”  
He sighed, but you said nothing to fill the silence, so he was forced to answer. “Nothing, I may have accidentally broken some stuff. I’m too clumsy and stupid to be a ninja”  
“Did they say that?”  
“Pretty much. They didn’t say anything that wasn’t true”  
“I don’t think that’s the case. If they really thought like that then they wouldn’t be have sent me to tell you they’re sorry, now would they?”  
He brightened a little. “They did? You mean, you weren’t coming anyway?”  
“Well of course I was coming anyway, I wasn’t gonna let you head off all upset like that. But they stopped me, and they said they didn’t want to upset you and they were really sorry”  
The brief brightness disappeared from his face. “They’re not really”  
“Course they are! You’re their brother, they love you”, you put an arm around his shoulders.  
“Doesn’t always feel like it. I just get in the way”  
“You don’t get in my way. I think you’re perfect just as you are, you’re a vital part of the family. Who would make me laugh if you weren’t there?”  
“You’ve got Raph”  
“He’s not enough. I need my whole family, every member of it. You’re my brothers now. And the family just doesn’t work without you, we need you and your unique way of seeing things to help us get through”  
The cloud of hopelessness surrounding Mikey seemed to be dissipating. “Really?”  
“Of course! Trust me, I’m a girl, we see things differently to boys, that’s why every family needs one”, you winked at him and he smiled.  
“I always did wonder what it would be like to have a sister”  
“Well wonder no more. From this day onwards, I pledge to be to you the annoying sister many boys are desperate to be rid of. And in my first official act, I will take you home and force your brothers to tell you just how sorry they are, thoroughly bruising their egos in the process. Once we’ve finished the lollies, of course”

You and Mikey finished your treats and you took a significantly happier turtle home. When you entered the lair, the other three were waiting.  
“Mikey!” they cried when he entered, pleased to see him because you’d texted them and said they had to be. Donnie and Raph stepped forward.  
“We’re really sorry, Mikey” Raph said.  
“We didn’t mean to upset you, really we didn’t” Donnie continued.  
“We were just angry, we weren’t thinking. You know we think the world of you”  
“Do you forgive us?”  
While their sentiment was true, it is important to note that while they were saying this you were stood behind Mikey fixing a stern stare on the two of them.  
“I suppose I could forgive you, if you make dinner this evening instead of me”  
“That seems fair” Donnie said and Raph nodded.  
“In which case, I forgive you”  
Raph looked at your face and could feel all his hopes for the evening fade. You’d promised to play video games with Mikey so while he set it up, Raph walked over to you.  
“You’re mad at me, aren’t you?” he said sheepishly.  
“I’m not mad at you Raph” you replied. And your voice certainly seemed to suggest you were telling the truth, but it didn’t offer much sympathy either.  
“You’re not coming to visit me in my room tonight, though, are you?”  
“Nope”  
“Thought not”  
You gave his arm a reassuring pat. “I’m sure you’ll survive, babe. I gotta spend the evening with my little brother”  
“What?”  
“I’ve decided that Mikey might as well be my brother at this point”  
“But if he’s your brother, and he’s my brother then…”  
“Don’t think about it too hard, Raph. All you need to know is that you are definitely not my brother”  
“Well yeah, otherwise the absence of you in my bed tonight wouldn’t be so disappointing”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I've been working on some later chapters this evening and it got me so excited that I was forced to update. Not to be a tease, but I'm totally gonna be a tease, because some stuff is gonna happen in a few chapters time that I personally LOVE and hope you will also enjoy.  
> But you can't have them yet, mwahahaha.


	80. Horror Movie Rules

There was something weird in the sewers, because there was always something weird in the sewers. It had gone undetected by those who lived there so far, but that was because no one had tried to leave yet that day. April had shown up fairly early on in the day and hadn’t noticed anything unusual. Casey, on the other hand, had made a later decision to visit the lair and it was not his lucky day.  
You and Raph had slept in and were in bed when you heard the screams.  
“That’s Casey” Raph said, bolting out of bed. You were a second behind, grabbing your PJs and dressing gown from where you’d discarded them last night and pulling them on, darting out of the room once you were decent and following Raph, who was already downstairs. You found Casey sat on the sofa, surrounded by April, Leo and Donnie, with Mikey on his way as you and Raph arrived.  
“What’s wrong?” you called as you jogged up.  
“We don’t know. He sprinted into the lair screaming, it’s like he’s in shock” April said, referring to the now motionless Casey who was staring ahead like he didn’t see anyone. Raph barged his way in and dropped down by Casey.  
“Casey, talk to us” he demanded. You sat yourself on his other side.  
“What happened?” you asked, putting a hand on his knee. Casey’s face was pale.  
“Come on, dude, what happened?” Raph asked, actually being gentle with someone other than you or Chompy for once.  
“It’s ok, you’re safe now” you said, putting your other hand on his shoulder.  
“R-rats” he said finally.  
“Rats?” you asked.  
“Big ones”  
“I thought he wasn’t so bothered by rats anymore” Leo said.  
“He’s not” April confirmed.  
“What about the rats, Casey?” you asked.  
“They were enormous. They chased me” he managed to get out.  
“Was it Splinter?” Donnie asked, a little harsh you thought.  
“I dunno, man, does Splinter have several cousins all with glowing green eyes and skin and enormous sharp teeth with a taste for humans?!” he finally snapped.  
“Um, no, not last time I checked” Leo said. You all exchanged worried glances.  
“Mutants?” you said.  
“You think?!” Casey asked, then he seemed to calm a little, “sorry Y/N, I’m just…”  
“Don’t worry, Casey, it’s alright. Where were they?”  
“I dunno, it’s all a blur. I was in the sewers, about half way here, when I heard this weird chittering noise and then suddenly there they were, all glowing and hissing and I just ran, and they chased me. I don’t know when I lost them, I just kept running ‘til I got here. I tried use my phone as a torch, but it was dead, but I swear it was on full when I left!”  
You were still taking in this information when the lights flickered, and then died. Your and Raph’s phones were still back in Raph’s room but the others took theirs out for light, but got nothing.  
“Oh god, it’s happening again!” Casey yelled, beginning to hyperventilate.  
“It’s ok, Casey, it’s fine” you said, but there was an edge of panic to your voice.  
The lair was in almost complete darkness, and you all jumped when you heard something moving across the lair, only for the shape of Master Splinter to appear, lit candle in hand.  
“It seems we have lost all power” he said.  
“Even battery powered things are gone” Donnie said, “something must be draining it”  
“What makes you think that?” Splinter asked.  
“The rats!” Casey cried.  
“Not you, Sensei, Casey met some giant glowing rats” Mikey explained.  
“Ah”  
“We should move to the lab, I’ve got some torches we can light” Donnie said.  
“You mean, like, medieval flaming torches?” Leo asked, the nerd light appearing in his eyes.  
“Yes, Leo. I thought they might be good for our next LARPing session”  
“Wait, we’re gonna do more of that?” Raph asked as you and he led the trembling Casey to the lab after the others.  
“Of course” Leo and Mikey chimed.  
“Great” Raph said, and you couldn’t quite tell if he was being serious or sarcastic.  
Donnie rootled in a draw by the light of Splinter’s candle and produced a few sticks with rags wrapped around, presumably covered in something flammable because one touch from the candle sent them bursting into flame. Donnie gave one to Leo, April and one to Raph while you all stood around the table.  
“So, we’ve got strange, dangerous mutants in the sewers and total power outage. No one is missing yet but I think that’s enough to declare a state of emergency. Horror movie rules are now in effect. No splitting up. No saying ominous things. No following strange noises. Do you understand?” Leo declared and you all nodded solemnly. He then continued. “Alright, good, having said that, I think we need to split up”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let the madness begin!  
> I think I kinda went mad one evening, and now this and the next few chapters exist. I was legit up until 2am one night writing these.


	81. No Splitting Up

“No, Leo! You just said don’t! Do you not remember why we put these rules in place?” Mikey cried.  
“I know, but we need to make sure the lair is secure”  
“Do you not remember the squirrelenoids?!” Mikey screamed at him.  
“I try not to remember them” Raph said, feeling the familiar sickness rise in his stomach every time he remembered those squirrel-things squirming around inside him. You rested your head on his shoulder a moment in comfort.  
“I know, we all remember them, we all had nightmares for weeks” Leo said, “but we need to know they’re not in the lair with us. But we’ll go in groups, ok? Donnie and April, you come with me, we’ll do the bedrooms. Raph, Casey, Y/N, you do the kitchen and the common room. Mikey, you and Sensei check the bathroom and then go to the dojo and make sure that’s secure. Understood? Good. Let’s move out”  
Leo handed Sensei his torch so that he and Mikey would have decent light, and then the group split.  
“I do not like this” you grumbled as you, Raph and the still-traumatised Casey headed towards the kitchen.  
“At least we’re in a group” Raph put in, but this situation had him distinctly uncomfortable. It was just too familiar.  
“We’re in a trio, Raph, that’s not enough” you said as you entered the kitchen, stooping to check under the table while Raph clambered on the worktop to check on top of the cupboards. Casey just stood in the doorway, reliving his terrifying chase earlier. You were distracted checking for a moment, but the quiet was shattered by the quiet, trembling voice of Casey.  
“Um, guys, maybe we should have checked the common room first” he said, and you turned to see him staring out of the door. No prizes for guessing what he was looking at.  
“Casey, shut the door!” Raph yelled, but it was too late. What looked like a glowing green whip, but which you assumed was the mutant’s tail he’d talked about, wrapped itself around Casey’s waist and dragged him out of sight. By the time you reached the place he last stood, there was no sign of him or his attackers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters are pretty short, so you can have two in one go to make up for it.


	82. No Saying Ominous Things

“I said we shouldn’t split up! Leo said we shouldn’t split up! Why the fuck did we split up?!” you screeched, feeling panic rise inside you.  
“Look, they can’t have taken him far, we can find him” Raph reasoned, although he was just as scared as you.  
“Not taken him far? Raph, they’ve completely disappeared! If he was still in the process of being taken we would hear him screaming!” you yelled.  
“You’re not helping anything” he snapped. “Come on, we can find him. Or at least go and find the others”  
“Yeah, yeah we’ll find the others. We’re not safe in a pair” you said, calming a little at the prospect of reuniting with more people. “Just, let’s not break any of the other rules, ok?”  
“Deal”  
You and Raph headed into the dojo, just as Mikey came running out, bumping into you and causing all 3 of you to scream.  
“Mikey! Where’s sensei?” Raph demanded.  
“I dunno. He was there, then I turned my back for a minute and he cried out but then he was gone!” Mikey babbled.  
“The same thing happened to Casey” you said, grabbing Mikey’s hand in an attempt to calm both you and him down.  
“Well, they’ve gone, so maybe we’re safe now? I mean, they’ve already been here, and they left us” Raph suggested.  
“Raph!” you yelled, “That is an ominous thing you just said! Don’t say ominous things! That’s the rule!”, you were nearing hysterical, terrified that if they could take your mentor and father-figure then no one was safe.  
“Let’s just find the others” Raph replied. You nodded, eyes wide and very aware of the darkened space around you. Mikey was still clinging to your arm for some vague sense of security. The three of you shuffled towards the stairs, eyes darting around for any sign of the glowing monsters. You made it half way up the stairs before you heard the yelling. Leo’s cries for help and Donnie and April yelling his name. You broke into a sprint, leaping up the stairs just in time to see a vague green glow fading as Leo’s screams cut off. Donnie and April span around to see you. “They got Leo!” April said.  
“Casey and Splinter are gone too” Raph reported.  
“It’s ok, we’ll find them. We’re back together now, we’re ok” Donnie said.  
“Stop saying that!” you yelled, on the verge of tears. “It’s the rules! We split up, that broke rule one. Now you keep saying ominous shit like we’re safe because we’re together. That just makes it certain we aren’t!”  
Raph passed his torch to April and wrapped you into his arms. “It’s ok, we’re gonna get through this. I’ll look after you” he soothed.  
“You can’t keep saying that” you mumbled, “we’re in a horror movie, those things are gonna get us”  
“No, we’re gonna find the others. Just take a deep breath, we’re still here, we have a chance. Just try and calm down a bit”  
You took a deep breath, taking strength from his arms around you, and then pulled away. “Ok, ok let’s do this. Just let’s not break the last rule”  
“Good girl”


	83. No Following Strange Noises

“Casey first encountered them in the sewers, so that’s probably where they are, right?” April said as the 5 of you that were left in Donnie’s room, door shut and barricaded. You, Raph, April and Mikey were on the bed and Donnie was pacing across the floor, you’d grabbed some clothes, and everyone had their weapons, acquired as a group to avoid splitting up.  
“Solid logic, that’s where most mutants seem to end up” Donnie said.  
“So that’s probably where the others are, then? Right?” Raph said. You were huddled in his lap, completely drained by fear.  
“Presumably”  
“Well then we gotta go! We gotta find them!” Mikey cried. You buried yourself deeper into Raph’s hold, picturing the dark tunnels and the fear held within. Then picturing your friends, your family, captured, possibly hurt or worse.  
“Yeah, we gotta go. The longer we wait here the worse things get” you agreed.  
The lights flickered back to life.  
“Yes!” you yelled.  
“Don’t get too excited yet, Y/N. That means the dampening field those things seem to be generating is gone, they’ve moved away” Donnie warned  
“Taking the others with them” Raph finished, “I’ve heard enough. Let’s get moving. When our phones die again we know we’re close”

It was a determined group that launched themselves into the sewers, retracing the steps Casey would have taken to reach the lair in the hope of reencountering those who had taken their loved ones.  
The determination evaporated when the phones dies.  
“They’re near” Mikey muttered.  
“Here we go with the ominous things again” you muttered, striking a match from the box you’d brought and touching it to the torch in your hand, bringing light to the group and casting eerie shadows on the walls, making everyone even more jumpy that they were before.  
There was a brief flash of glowing green and your heart was in your throat. A wall of green eyes was in front of you. You turned on your heel, just in time to see a whip-like tail wrap around Donatello’s middle. You reached for him, but he was dragged away before you could grab his hand. There was a flash of smoke as Mikey threw a smoke bomb and you felt yourself dragged in the direction away from the glowing eyes, rounding a corner as the smoke cleared.  
“Donnie” April said.  
“Well, at least we know they’re that way” You put in.  
“Yeah, but how are we gonna get past them?” Raph asked.  
“We could circle round, try and find another way into that bit of the sewers” April suggested.  
She seemed about to suggest a route when she was interrupted by a strange chittering, hissing noise from further down the tunnel.  
“What’s that?”  
“Who cares what it is? It’s a strange noise, don’t follow it! That’s one of the rules!” you protested.  
“On the other hand, it could lead us to the guys” Raph suggested.  
“Even I know that’s not proper logic” Mikey said, but Raph and April ignored the two of you and headed off towards the noise. You glanced at Mikey. “No splitting up” you said and he nodded, and the two of you hurried after them.

You hadn’t quite caught up when they rounded a corner. You heard a scream and a brief struggle and started running, but by the time you caught up April was gone.  
“What did I say, Raph? What did I fucking say?” you yelled, “we have these rules for a reason. Now we’re just the stupid idiots in the horror movie who didn’t follow common sense and lost all their friends”  
“Do you think you’re helping?” Raph snapped back.  
“No, I think I’m panicking”  
“Look, we gotta get them back. We can do this” he said, trying to calm you down.  
“Um, Raph, step away from the wall…” Mikey said, carefully and quietly.  
Behind Raph, only just in the light of the torch, you could make out the shape of an enormous rat, skin and eyes glowing green like mutagen and razer-sharp teeth bared.  
“Raph move!” you yelled, he dived to the side, right into the grasp of another mutant, tail wrapping around his middle like a snake. You could just see the rat running away into the dark, green glow fading as you sprinted after him, only to find them gone.  
“Raph! No! Raph! Give him back!” you screamed, trying to continue your run after the love of your life, but Mikey wrapped his arm around yours and stopped you.  
“No splitting up, Y/N, remember? We’re the only two left, we have to stay together”  
“But they took Raph! They took sensei! They took everyone!” you sobbed, tears falling freely down your face.  
“They did. But do you know what that means for us?”  
“That we’re next?”  
“No”, Mikey’s face took on a new expression, serious, determined, heroic, “We’re the protagonists”


	84. Protagonists

“The protagonists?” you asked.  
“Yeah. We’re the last two, we gotta save everyone. We’ve got plot armour, Y/N, thick, thick plot armour”  
“Plot armour? What are you on about? We’re gonna die”  
“No, Y/N, we’re gonna save everyone”  
He seemed so determined, so sure of himself. You weren’t sure if he believed it, or if he was just pretending, but you decided it was your best shot right now. You nodded slowly.  
“Yeah, yeah we’re gonna save everyone”  
“Damn right we are. Now, what I’m gonna say is gonna sound crazy but we have to do it. Y/N, we have to break the rules. All of them”  
“We do?”  
“Yes. We’re going to follow the next creepy noise we hear while loudly pronouncing ominous things about our chances of finding it and then, when we find it, we’ll split up. I’ll distract them and you get the guys out”  
“Out of where?”  
“Wherever they are”  
You didn’t follow his logic, but you did follow him. Mikey had a habit of coming up with solutions in these crazy situations. And, as he had before and would again, he did the seemingly impossible and led you to the mutant’s lair. You rounded a corner while he loudly declared the two of you were probably completely safe right now, and there it was, one of the large open spaces that were, for some reason, built into the New York sewers.  
In the center was a giant rats nest, and in the center of that, in a pit surrounded by a ring of angry, vicious rats, were your friends. Judging by the mess of the place, it seemed they would be dinner if you didn’t get them out.  
You grabbed Mikey and pulled him out of view.  
“What the shell are we gonna do?” you whispered to him.  
“Easy. Like I said, I’m gonna distract them and you’re gonna run in there and get our family out. Just wait for my signal”  
You stared at Mikey in shock. He had never, in all the time you’d know him, been this in charge and brilliant. You loved him, of course, but you had to admit he wasn’t really the calm and collected leader type. He just grinned at you.  
“Don’t worry, Angelcakes, once this is over I’ll go back to normal”, he winked at you, and then he was gone. All you could do was wait, wait for whatever the signal would be.  
You knew it when you saw it.  
Michelangelo had somehow made his way up to the ceiling. He leapt down, grappling into the wall and swinging in, a mess of smoke bombs and ‘BOOYAKASHA’s hailing down with him.  
The rats were animals, the distraction was probably more elaborate than it needed to be, but it worked. They swarmed around Mikey, leaping up to try and grab him as he grappled across the room. You ran in, landing a powerful kick on one of the few rats remaining while throwing a shuriken at another. You were armed with your own grappling hook and you thanked common sense for making you bring it as you threw the rope down to the others.  
“Get the hell out before he runs out of craziness and smoke bombs” you yelled as you anchored the hook to the edge of the pit and dodged out of the way of a lunging rat, slamming your tonfa down into its head to daze it.  
The others didn’t need telling twice, and within a couple of minutes you had them all out.  
“Mikey, I got them, get out of there!” you called to him. He nodded, grappling one last time and swinging out through the same entrance you’d come through.  
Then you ran, ran until your phones came back to life and you knew you were far enough away.  
“You two were amazing!” April said, throwing her arms around you and Mikey.  
“Don’t say that yet, we still gotta deal with them” you said.  
“We could… just… block the tunnels off and never think about it” Leo suggested. You looked at him, everyone did.  
“That would be very irresponsible” Splinter said.  
“But, it’s also what we always do” Donnie said.  
Splinter thought about it for a moment. “This is true”  
“So…?” Mikey said.  
“So let’s do it”


	85. Just A Little Late

It was fine, really it was. Periods can be late for loads of reasons. After all, you had been pretty stressed recently, what with the whole mutant rats things, and before that all that stuff with Raph saving your life. Yeah, you’d been really stressed, that was probably it.  
Only…  
Only what if it wasn’t? There was another reason periods could be late. Another very real, very scary, if not very possible reason. And you were not ready for that. Not yet.  
There was one person who might have the answers. Someone who’d spent his life studying the turtles. Someone who dedicated all of his time trying to learn about everything.  
You swallowed your embarrassment, avoided Raph as you made your way from your room to Donnie’s lab, not ready to face your boyfriend until you were less terrified. You didn’t bother knocking, just slid the door open a crack and slipped inside. Donnie was, as always, buried in his work so he didn’t notice you were there until you conspicuously cleared your throat. He jumped and span around.  
“Oh, Y/N, you startled me” he said, smiling at you.  
You laughed nervously. “Sorry about that”  
“Don’t worry about it, what can I do for you?”  
You walked a little further into the room, nervous as all hell and it showed. “Are you ok?” Donnie asked.  
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. It’s just… I’ve been wondering something, and I dunno if you can help me but if anyone can it’s you”  
“If I can I certainly will, what is it?”  
You perched on the edge of the table awkwardly, trying to think of the words you needed. “Well, it’s about Raph. And I guess it’s about me as well. I’ve been kinda wondering. Because, you see, I want a family, some day. Not yet, just some day. And he does too. And Raph and I know that maybe we can’t have kids, but… I was just wondering… if, maybe… if maybe it’s possible, for him and me to have kids”  
Donnie patiently waited for you to reach the end of your dithering and get to your point, and when you did he frowned. “So let me get this right, you want to know if you and Raph are genetically compatible enough to have children?”  
“Yes”  
He thought for a moment. “I’ll be honest, I’ve never really thought about it. The idea wasn’t really relevant until you showed up and, well, I didn’t really want to think about your and Raph’s sex life”  
“And you don’t need to” you snapped, giving him a light tap, “Just focus on the biology of it. Is it possible?”  
He thought a moment more. “In theory, it could be possible. Raph and the rest of us are a combination of turtle and human DNA, thanks to our unconventional beginnings. The mutagen combined our DNA with Splinter’s, that’s why our appearance and intelligence is how it is. I can’t be certain, but It’s possible that the human element of Raph’s DNA could be enough to make you compatible”  
“And any offspring the match might produce, what species would they be?”  
“Well as it would be the human element of Raph’s DNA combining with yours, any child produced would, for the most part, be human. The mutagen in Raph’s system would add in a more unpredictable element. Your child would be born a mutant”  
“Well that’s no bad thing” you said with a smile.  
“No, no it’s not”  
“Thanks Donnie, that’s good to know”  
You got up to leave but he called after you.  
“Y/N, is there anything you need to tell me? Or maybe something you need to tell Raph?”  
He had, of course, worked out more than he was saying. But until you knew, you were saying nothing.  
“No, nothing, See you later, D”  
And with that you were gone. Now even more panicked than before as the idea that you might actually, genuinely be pregnant took hold.  
You didn’t say anything to Raph, but he knew something was up. He kept asking if you were ok, if he’d done something wrong, but you insisted it was fine.  
It was fine, you reasoned, you and he both wanted kids, if one was gifted to you then that was a good thing. This might be your only chance!  
But you were scared. You and he hadn’t really, properly talked about it yet, you weren’t ready.  
So, you avoided him, not snuggling into him when you watched TV. You weren’t visiting his room at night, and you weren’t inviting him to yours.  
After a couple of days, Raph had had enough. He came to your room when he knew you’d be there, right after you’d got home from work. He knocked on the door and didn’t wait for a reply, walking right in.  
“Alright, I’ve had enough, Y/N. You keep saying everything’s fine but you’ve been avoiding me for days which means everything is definitely not fine. If I’ve done something wrong then please, stop torturing me and just tell me”  
You blinked at him, shocked by the outburst. Then, when you’d processed his words, you felt the tears starting to come and you couldn’t stop them. Raph’s demeanor changed completely when he saw tears in your eyes. “Oh god, baby, don’t cry, please”, he dragged you into a hug and, for the first time in days, you didn’t resist, just melted into him.  
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” you sobbed against his plastron, “I’ve been so terrible to you and it isn’t your fault”  
“What is it, Y/N? You can tell me, you know you can”  
“It’s just that… Look my period is late, like really late, and that always brings one thought to mind. So I went to Donnie and I asked if it was possible for us to have kids and so for me to be pregnant, and he said yes, well, maybe. So now I’ve been panicking that maybe I really am so I’ve been avoiding you because every time I see you it gets me thinking about it, because we haven’t really discussed having kids, not properly and not yet and I don’t think I’m ready and god it’s just too much”, it all tumbled out in basically one breath and Raph ended up just staring at you in shock.  
“Wait, you think you might be pregnant?”  
You nodded. “Maybe”  
“Y/N, that’s… that’s amazing”  
“It is?”  
“Of course. I mean, I know we haven’t really talked about it and in an ideal world we probably wouldn’t have kids until we’re a little older. But I want to have a family with you, and if this is our chance then who are we to say no? Right?”  
“I guess so”  
“I know so”, he sat you on the bed with him beside you. “You said we hadn’t properly talked about it, so let’s talk”  
“Now?”  
“Now would seem to be a relevant time. What did Donnie say when you asked him about it?”  
You took a deep breath. This felt much better than hiding it from him. “I didn’t tell him I thought I might be, I just asked if it was possible. He said he can’t be sure, but it might be. The human element in your DNA might be enough to make us compatible, so if we did have a kid they’d mostly be human. Although because you’re full of mutagen, they would be born a mutant. A turtle mutant, I guess”  
“And is that ok with you? For your kid to be a mutant?”  
“Of course!”  
“They wouldn’t have a normal childhood” he warned, “it wasn’t easy for me and the others, growing up cut off from the world”  
“But things are different here, now. Yes, there are things they wouldn’t have, but there’d be things they did have. You just had your brothers and Splinter. Our kid would have 2 loving parents, 3 brilliant uncles, an epic grandparent plus April and Casey and anyone else that comes into our lives. I know I’m ok bringing a kid into that world. What about you?”  
Raph thought for a second before answering. “It’s not easy being like this. Having to hide. Until you, I always thought of myself closer to monster than anything else. I wouldn’t want that for our kid. And the idea of not being able to give them everything kills me. But I want kids, I really do. I never thought about it until the last few months, but the more I do think about it the more I know I want to be a father. And if we were blessed with a baby then I would do everything I could for them”  
You leant against him. “I know you would. But isn’t it a bit early?”  
“Yeah, whenever I pictured it we were certainly a bit older. But, if it happens now then it happens now. It might be our only chance”  
You nodded. “Ok, so we’re not trying but if it happens it happens, right?”  
“Right”  
You kissed him, properly kissed him, for the first time since the whole panic had started. Raph was, in a word, keen.  
“God baby, you gotta stop trying to keep things from me, I hate going without your kisses”  
“Sorry, I guess I’ll just have to make it up to you”  
“How do you plan on doing that?”  
You trailed your hand up his thing. “I can think of a few ways”  
“I can’t wait to find out what they are”

 

In the end, within 24 hours actually, you discovered that your pregnancy scare had been just that, a scare. You didn’t mind when you found out you weren’t pregnant, it was kind of a relief really, but at least it had forced you to have that conversation with Raph. That was a step in the right direction.


	86. One Night Every Year

For one night every year the turtles actually stood a chance of fitting in, being almost normal, and yet they hadn’t taken advantage of it before. You were horrified. That night was tonight, Halloween, and you were damned if you weren’t going to make the most of it. The turtles hadn’t been sure, well Mikey had been but the others were a little more skeptical, but all it took was 10 minutes solid of insistence and they caved.  
On one condition. They didn’t want to go out as turtles, they wanted to dress up. Your creativity was pushed to the limit finding ways to make that work but, standing back now to gaze at your work, you were proud of what you’d achieved.  
Leo actually had wanted to go as a turtle, but since he actually was one some work had needed doing to make him appear fake. A zip down the center of his plastron, fake straps to make his shell look like he was wearing it like a bag plus some silicone around his neck pretending to be a join for a fake mask and he looked like he was in an epic costume.  
Donnie’s costume had been an obvious choice. With a large white coat, some white trousers and shoes plus a rubber mask and crazy wig, he was the perfect picture of a mad scientist (hunchback, of course, to explain the bump made by the shell), a few test tubes and suspicious smears and stains completed the effect.  
Mikey had opted for swamp monster, draped in a curtain of vines and leaves created from rubber tubing and carboard, the only thing that showed through the costume were his eyes and mouth. Though simple, the costume was startlingly unnerving as he practiced shambling around, arms held out ahead of him and groaning unintelligibly.  
When you asked Raph what he wanted, his answer had been immediate and, once you heard it, obvious. “I wanna be a knight” he said, “A knight in shining armour”, and the two of you had worked together to fulfill the brief admirably. A metal full-face helmet covered his head and easily hid his green skin, while further plate-mail (some metal, some cardboard to save him the weight) covered the rest of his body. His shell was hidden by a large shield he wore draped over his back, which was much thinner than it appeared to disguise the shell’s bulk, and he carried a two-handed sword rather than his usual sai.  
You’d chosen to be a ninja, because what else were you supposed to dress as?

Since you were all now far too old to respectably go out and beg sweets off strangers, you’d instead decided that just wandering the streets and taking in the night (plus maybe scaring a few people if possible) would do you just fine. You moved as a group out of the sewers, meeting up with Casey and April in the alley you usually exited in. Mikey was desperately excited, and the others were struggling to hide their own anticipation. But when a group of kids wandered past the alley, the mutants all instinctively slipped into the shadows. Clearly a few ridiculous costumes couldn’t undo a lifetime of caution. You couldn’t hold back your giggle, grabbing Raph’s gloved hand and dragging him forwards.  
“Not tonight, remember?” you said as you hauled him towards the street, Mikey by your side and the other two at your heels. You sensed Raph tense as you reached the alley’s entrance.  
“Maybe this isn’t the best idea” he said.  
“Oh no, don’t go getting soft on me now” you said, taking that final step and dragging him after you into the street. You stood as a group, and while the brothers took it all in a group of teens in costumes walked past and complimented your collective costumes. You thanked them and waited until they’d moved away. “See? No one can tell you aren’t just like them.”  
Mikey needed no more encouragement, falling into his swamp-monster shuffle and heading off, everyone else right behind him.  
Being out in public was profoundly weird for the turtles, but they liked it. It was fun, being dressed up like this, no one knew what they were. It was like having this epic secret and waggling it in front of everyone’s nose. You received plenty of compliments for your costumes and no one seemed at all suspicious of the slightly strange size and shape of some of your group. As they relaxed further, the turtles started having conversation with people. That was even weirder.  
You stayed out late, probably too late, but eventually the costumes were staring to disintegrate a little and you headed back to the lair, stopping in at an all-night shop to buy some sweets, because you may not have been allowed to trick-or-treat but it was Halloween (only just, the day was going to tick over to tomorrow pretty soon) and sweets were required. Once you reached the lair, you shed the most uncomfortable parts of your costumes and flopped down by the TV, putting on the first scary film you could lay your hands on.  
Life in the lair was by no means normal, and none of you would have wanted it to be, but for one night every year it was. That was enough, the turtles decided. If one night was all they could have then they’d take it, and enjoy that brief glimpse into what it meant to be human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am aware it is no where near Halloween currently, but shush, that doesn't change the cuteness.


	87. Moving In

The Hamato family home, the ‘lair’ as they called it, was not a traditionally built home, which made sense when the family’s unique situation was taken into account. In fact, the building the unusual group lived in had started out life as a subway station, one of a number dotted around the city that had since been abandoned, trains having long-since ceased to go there, the tracks now completely inaccessible for them. While this made for a cool aesthetic, it wasn’t always the most practical. The lair had been perfectly suitable when it was just Splinter and the boys, with 4 rooms that may once have been offices of some kind becoming their bedrooms, and Splinter’s off the dojo in the middle, behind the traditional walls they’d constructed themselves. Later, with April having entered their lives, and later her father, Casey etc., the family had seen fit to adapt another room, previously used as storage and an excellent place for hide and seek, into a spare bedroom, leaving another room next door to it also used for storage.  
But recently things between you and Raph had been changing, becoming very serious very quickly. Not that you and he hadn’t been serious before, but recently it felt like you were talking about the future more, making plans for things that could keep happening for years to come. It had started with the holiday in summer, and the agreement that you had to make it a yearly tradition, thinking about where you might go next year. Then you and Raph had celebrated your first anniversary, you’d done it quietly, going to Mr. Murakami’s restaurant then retreating to your own dance party for two on the rooftops. Then came Halloween, and you’d decided you had to do that every year as well. And, with Christmas fast approaching, you were starting to see repetitions of what you’d done last year.  
The future was becoming now and you and Raph still had separate rooms, alternating between yours and his, both decently sized but neither of which were big enough for two on a permanent basis. And so, a few weeks before Christmas, the whole family turned to completing a project, their present to the two of you in a way. The wall between your room and the storage next door was knocked down, creating once space, big enough for two. The items in the storage room were moved temporarily to the lab, then, once the decorating in the new double was complete, to Raph’s old room. At the end of a week, the room was finished.  
It was certainly trying to be adult, with the double bed and the matching wardrobe and chest of draws (granted, acquired from a second-hand furniture store, but your job didn’t pay loads so what do you expect?). There was a rug covering a large amount of the floor and even a dressing table in the corner. But the adult effect was ruined once you and Raph started personalising. Raph’s drum kit had made its way in, you hadn’t complained really. His ‘STOP’ sign was proudly hung outside the door and posters on the walls, with your own collection stuck up there, too. Within about 20 minutes his skateboard was already chucked carelessly into a corner, where it was destined to stay no matter how many times you told him to put it away somewhere. Raph’s bedside table sported his jack-o-lantern lamp, and yours your space heroes one. Pretty quickly the 2 of you had your stuff strewn everywhere.  
There was an official unveiling, despite the fact you’d all worked on it and so knew what it looked like. But there was a ribbon across the door that needed cutting anyway, and Raph carried you across the threshold and dumped you on the bed unceremoniously. The bed was the most exciting part, so much space to sleep in, and partake in… other… activities. That was a good reason to have your room separated from the others, noise levels weren’t really a problem.  
It was only a small change, just a bedroom, but to you and Raph it meant the world. Finally, after so long living in the same place, you had a space that was for the two of you.


	88. Give You The World

Christmas passed like it had done the year before as traditions started to make themselves known. There was the epic group undertaking of decorating the entire lair; the Christmas-eve watching of the Crognard holiday special, and the Christmas day watching of the Space Heroes special. You went back to work a couple of days after Christmas, slipping out of the excitement for that day and into excitement for New Year’s instead.  
It was early January and you came home from work early with fairly intense nausea. It wasn’t massively surprising, plenty of people got stomach bugs that time of year, so Raph dutifully brought you whatever you needed and let you sleep the rest of the day away. The next day you felt better but decided against going to work anyway, in case it was just a brief respite you said.

 

Raph was working out in the dojo when the door slipped open and Y/N entered, closing it behind her. He paused when she did, putting down his weights and smiling.  
“Hey, you feeling ok?”  
You grinned. “Yeah, yeah I’m feeling fine, seems like it wasn’t a bug after all”  
You wandered over to him, sitting yourself down on the floor. You were acting casual enough but Raph could sense something wasn’t quite what it seemed, an air of expectation surrounded you, and so he sat next to you.  
“Glad to hear it”  
“Yeah, me too. Thanks for looking after me, though”  
“Nah, don’t mention it, it’s the least I can do for my baby girl”  
“Well if that’s the least you can do then you’re in for a pretty easy ride because I don’t want anything more than you’ve already given me”  
“That’s unfortunate because I’ve already put my plan to conquer the world for you in motion”, Raph threw you a grin and you smiled back.  
“I don’t want the world babe”  
“Tough, because I’m gonna give it to you”  
Raph was joking, and up to this point you’d gone with it, but there was somewhere you needed this conversation to go and you were gonna steer it there.  
“This Christmas was really great, wasn’t it?”  
“Yeah”  
“Next year’ll be better, of course. Next year will be a proper family Christmas”  
“A proper family? What does that mean?”  
“Oh, you know. You, me, grandpa Splinter, uncles Leo, Mikey and Donnie, man those guys will be good uncles”  
Raph was, in a word, confused. “Y/N, what are you on about?”  
You were starting to lose all control of the grin that insisted on appearing on your face. “Think about it, Raph, put it together”  
You watched as his facial expression changed, practically tracking his thought processes.  
Grandpa… Uncles… Plus the fact you’d been sick the past couple of days.  
Then there was the moment it clicked. You would remember that moment for the rest of your life. The second confusion was replaced with disbelief. There were tears in the back of your eyes and a grin on your face as he attempted to form a coherent thought.  
“You mean? You’re… We’re…”  
“A little earlier than we wanted, I know, but I wanna be with you forever. So why not start forever now?”  
“Wait, so you’re actually…?”, Raph was still staring in disbelief and awe, unable to say the thoughts in his head. You took his hand.  
“Go on, Raph. Say it”  
“We’re gonna have a kid?”, he still sounded a little unsure, but the grin plastered on your face swept that away.  
“Yeah”  
“You’re kidding… That’s not… But the chances… You’re kidding. You’re pulling my leg. You’re messing with me. Y/N, I swear to god-”  
“Raph, I’m serious”  
He stared into your eyes and saw no hint of a lie in them.  
“I’m gonna be a dad?”  
“Yeah”  
Raph launched himself at you, knocking you to the floor as he wrapped his entire body around yours, face buried against your neck. You laughed, finding yourself pinned to the ground.  
“Is that a good thing then?” you asked, still laughing. Your reply came in the form of lips locked firmly against yours. When he pulled his face away you wiggled underneath him.  
“Raph, you’re squishing me”  
He was off you in an instant “oh my god, I’m so sorry, are you ok?”  
“I’m fine, dumbass. I’m better than fine, I’m fricking amazing”  
Raph, for his part, appeared to be going into shock. He looked at you earnestly. “You’re sure about this?”  
You thought about the significant pile of pregnancy tests you had taken. “Pretty darn”  
“But… I thought the chances… I’d sort of assumed it would never actually happen”  
“And yet, here we are, the 3 of us”  
There were actual tears in his eyes as he looked at you, and at where his teeny tiny unborn child was. “You’re amazing. You’re absolutely incredible. I love you so much”  
You cupped his face with one hand, guiding one of his to your belly.  
“Right back at ya”


	89. Telling The Others

You and Raph wanted to keep it to yourselves, but you were both so excited that the chances of you doing that for very long were miniscule, especially when you lived with the majority of the people you wanted to tell. So you gave yourselves 24 hours before summoning the family, which included April and Casey. All they knew as they assembled was that you had ‘something’ to tell them, and that they had barely seen you in the past day.  
You’d considered some kind of fancy reveal but decided against it. In the end you went simple, gathering the family on the sofa and standing before them with Raph.  
“There’s no point in us being all fancy about this. Raph and I have something to tell you, something pretty exciting” you said. You looked at Raph, giving him the cue to take over.  
“Am I saying it?” he asked you, pointing a finger at himself.  
“I mean, I got to tell you, seems only fair”  
He nodded, paused a moment to get the words together, and then spoke. “Against what is presumably all of the odds, and maybe against good sense too, Y/N and I are gonna have a baby”  
There was one heartbeat of stunned silence, and then a hell of a lot of noise.  
“You’re pregnant?!” April screamed.  
“Are you certain?” Donnie asked.  
“No way! Are you serious?” Leo asked.  
All Mikey could say was “A baby!” while jumping up and down.  
Casey, at a loss of anything else to say, merely yelled “Guys!”  
Splinter offered his congratulations.  
You just nodded, laughing and grinning. “It’s true” you said, and with that Mikey launched himself at you, wrapping his arms around both you and Raph, with April only a heartbeat behind him. Donnie and Leo exchanged looks and then joined in on the group hug, pulling Casey in. Among the mass of bodies surrounding you, you managed to weasel one hand free and held it out to Splinter, tugging him in too.  
After a long hug, everyone started to pull away, all talking incessantly, all offering their sincerest congratulations. Donnie managed to get your full attention for a moment.  
“I guess that answers the question of is it possible” he said.  
“It would seem so”  
“Jeeze, I’m gonna have to do some reading up, aren’t I?”  
“I think we all are. I get the feeling traditional doctors checkups aren’t really an option”  
“Yeah, that probably wouldn’t be a good idea”  
Casey barged his way into your conversation, “Wait, Y/N, so is there like a tiny little turtle growing inside you right now?”  
“Actually, the fetus is probably almost 100% human, it’s the human element of Raph’s DNA crossed with Y/N’s” Donnie explained. “The child will be a mutant, but most likely almost entirely human”  
“Wow, you’ve really made it sound cute” Casey replied, and you gave him a semi-serious punch to the arm.  
“My baby will be more adorable than you’ve ever been, Jones”  
“I’m sorry, your baby?” Raph’s voice said from behind you, and before you could react there were hands on your waist spinning you around. “I thought it was ours?”, he raised an eye ridge.  
“It is!” you protested, squirming to get out of his grip.  
“I thought so” he said, moving his hands so he could tickle you until you finally escaped.  
“Wait, does this mean I’ll be an uncle?” Mikey asked, his mind finally making all the connections.  
“That does tend to be how it works” Raph deadpanned.  
“I always wanted to be an uncle!” Mikey cried, although the idea hadn’t actually ever occurred to him until now.  
“Yeah, you’ll finally have someone on your level” Raph threw back and Mikey agreed, then a moment later he scowled.  
“Hey!”  
Donnie began to enthuse about all the different things he could teach the kid. These things started off simple, basic stuff, but when it started to drift into the realms of dangerous you had to intervene.  
“Yeah, Donnie, I’m gonna have to cut you off there. Raph and I were kinda hoping our child would actually make it to adulthood. That means a minimum involvement with dangerous chemicals, machinery and explosions”  
“Wait, Y/N, explosions are awesome” Raph cut across you. You pondered a moment.  
“True. Alright, minimum chemicals and dangerous machinery, slightly above minimum explosions”  
Donnie looked disappointed, but not half as much as he did when Raph spoke up. “yeah, and no experimenting on them either.”  
Donnie opened his mouth to protest but Raph continued. “I know it’s a scientific marvel, but I’m not letting you poke and prod the kid”  
“Fine”  
Splinter was the only person in whom Raphael had confided his desire to have children, and his belief that it would probably never happen. He approached the happy couple with a smile.  
“I am beyond happy for you, the two of you will make excellent parents, I’m sure”  
You and Raph exchanged an unsure look. “I’m glad you have confidence in us, Sensei” Raph said.  
“Because we don’t have very much” you finished for him.  
“You will find you way, and your family will be here for you while you do”  
You looked at said family. Despite the fact that they were probably even less prepared for the reality of a baby in the family, you knew Splinter was right. They would do everything they could for you, whether you asked them to or not.


	90. Bound To Happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something that was always going to happen, happens.

It was spring, and you weren’t quite showing the evidence of your passenger yet. Raph had only become more attentive recently, bringing back the tradition of a weekly date night which had disappeared as you became more and more comfortable with your living situation. That’s why his taking you out that evening wasn’t a surprise at all. You’d dressed up properly, determined to look good as long as possible before you looked like a whale. It still wasn’t unusual when Raph led you up to the rooftops, since there wasn’t really a wide variety of places he could take you.  
The sun was setting when you arrived at his chosen destination. Raph had you close your eyes as he carried you the last short way.  
“Raph, what is going on?”  
“Do you remember our first date? When I told you I liked you?”  
“Well I’m not gonna forget that, am I?”  
“Describe it to me”  
“Ummm, it was sunset, we had a picnic, there was a blanket and cushions and it was adorable”  
Raph carefully placed you on your feet. “Ok, open your eyes”  
In front of you was a picnic almost identical to the one in your memory. “Tadaa” he declared.  
“Oh my god, Raph, this is adorable” you squealed, turning to give him a quick kiss before throwing yourself down among the cushions.  
“Glad you like it” he said, joining you in the nest of pillows.  
All around you were a selection of your favourite foods, that was one way this picnic was better than that first all that time ago, Raph knew you better now. Also, you weren’t on your best behavior this time, stuffing your face in a rather animalistic way. You didn’t spend minutes agonising about whether or not you should take Raph’s hand, either, you had your body tucked up with his the whole time.  
When the food was all gone, the stars had come out. Barely visible in the eternal light of the city, but perched up on that roof you could just about make them out. You were gazing up at them when Raph started talking.  
“The first time we did this I had no idea what was gonna happen. I’d spent the whole day tryin’ to talk myself out of asking you, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t ignore the possibility that maybe you’d like me back. And, despite everything I’d ever thought about myself, you did. And a little later, you moved into the lair, and everything changed, everything was better. And then, about a year ago, I told you I loved you for the first time, and you said it back. And a few weeks ago you told me you were pregnant. That would be have been completely unimaginable to the me who first stuttered out that he liked you. And then, today, right this moment, sat here under the stars, I took a deep breath, calmed myself down, and asked you to marry me”  
It took you slightly too long to process that. “What?”  
You looked at Raph, and he pulled out a ring. Silver, with a little green gem. That seemed appropriate. You couldn’t quite catch your breath.  
“Not yet, not until after the baby, maybe not for ages after that, but one day I want to be able to say that I’m married to the woman I love. So, Y/N, princess, will you marry me?”  
There was never a doubt in your mind. “Raphael, I will absolutely marry you. Now give me that ring”


	91. Tricky

Turns out no one was actually surprised to find out you and Raph were engaged. Donnie had helped Raph actually make the ring, using broken and lost jewelry they’d collected to melt down and create a new ring, with the green stone in a delicate setting. And then, knowing Raph was going to propose, Donnie completely failed to keep it a secret from his brothers. Mikey then blabbed to Casey and April, and at that point Leo told Splinter because everyone else knew.  
You didn’t really mind that they knew, though, too busy waggling the ring at them and holding Raph close, proud of your new public sign that you were taken. The next day there was a party, with a banner with your and Raph’s names in a heart which had apparently been a joint project between Mikey and April, who shipped the two of you harder than anyone, and with balloons and a playlist specially made for the occasion. You and Raph had a lazy morning, not leaving bed until it was technically afternoon, and then the party started early afternoon.  
It started out well, with your favourite songs and a massive game of ‘balloon-ball’, the rules of which are simple: don’t let the balloon touch the ground. The game seemed set to go on for a very long time, but you grew tired much quicker than you would have expected, finding the effort of running after the balloon a little too much. Raph noticed you flagging and made a clumsy lunge at the balloon, deliberately letting it hit the floor to give you an excuse to stop. With everyone distracted debating what to do next, Raph took your arm.  
“Hey, are you ok?”  
“I’m fine, just a little tired, it’s probably just all this excitement”  
Raph looked unconvinced. “If you wanna stop we can just go to our room and watch a film or something, we don’t need to have all of this if you’re not up to it”  
“I’m fine” you insisted. He still didn’t look sure, but he nodded.  
“Alright”  
You really were fine, just tired, you reasoned. But this night was supposed to be about you and Raph, so when one of your favourite songs came on you were the first up to dance. You span to the music, but when you stopped your head kept spinning. You gave it a moment to clear, thinking it was just the dancing that had made you dizzy, but it didn’t go away.  
Raph’s hand on your shoulder steadied you, but when he said something it sounded like you were underwater. He moved so that his face was right in front of yours, trying to get you to focus on him. But you couldn’t quite hone in on the world around you, couldn’t filter out the dizziness or distinguish his voice from the background noise. It was becoming more difficult to stay standing upright and you staggered as your legs started to give out.  
The music stopped, and you could hear voices around you, but you were still struggling to pick them apart. Your legs sagged beneath you, but Raph had been ready to catch you.

 

When you woke up, you were lying on the sofa. Faces crowded in, adding to the confusion that had taken over your brain. They all talked at once, but one voice cut through the others.  
“Give her some damn space, will ya” Raph growled, shoving the others away. They cleared, leaving only Raph and Donnie looking over you. That was better, you could focus on just the two of them. “How are you feelin’, Princess?”  
“I… I don’t know. What happened?”  
You tried to sit up, but found your arms unwilling to support your weight. Raph helped you up, putting a cushion behind your head.  
“You fainted” Donnie explained.  
“That doesn’t sound like me”  
“That’s why I’m worried” Donnie replied. “Have you been eating? Drinking? Have you felt at all ill?”  
You shook your head, but then it started spinning so you decided not to do that again. “No, I’ve been fine all day”  
“I’ve been with her all day, Don, she’s been eating and drinking like normal” Raph said.  
Donnie put a hand on your forehead. “Your temperature seems normal. How are you feeling now? Are you dizzy?”, he held up a hand, “How many fingers am I holding up?”  
You tried to focus on him, but it was a struggle. You finally managed to stutter out a hesitant “two”, which was apparently the correct answer, but your uncertainty was cause for concern. You tried to follow the conversation going on around you, but it was hard, and all the voices started blurring together again. Raph saw the distress on your face and he took your hand, blocking out the rest of the room so that all you could see was him.  
“Hey, it’s ok sweetheart, just focus on me”, his finger stroked over your knuckles and you focused on that. “Take a deep breath, Y/N, ok. In, and out”  
You did as he told you and the fog in your brain started to disperse a little.  
“Let’s get her to the lab” Donnie said, and to your relief you managed to follow that train of thought with little trouble. Raph nodded.  
“Can you walk?” he asked. You allowed yourself a half-smile.  
“If I tried I don’t think it would go too well”  
“Alright then, you’ve won the grand prize in today’s draw, a personal carrying servant to get you from this sofa to the lab” Raph said, trying to keep his voice cheery to distract you from the worry in his eyes as he hoisted you into his arms. As he carried you towards the lab, he lowered his voice and murmured to you. “Is it best if we tell everyone to stay outside?” he asked.  
“There’s too many of them” you murmured, “I can’t pick apart their voices”  
Raph called out to Donnie, then muttered something to him, then he carried you into the lab while Donnie told the others why they couldn’t follow. Raph placed you on the bed, brushing your hair away from your face and trying to remain calm.  
It took about 20 minutes for the fog to finally clear from your brain and you to be able to answer Donnie’s questions with a degree of certainty and understanding. In the meantime, Donnie checked your breathing, your pulse, your blood pressure, anything he could do that wasn’t too invasive or involved whilst you regained your cognition. Your blood pressure was a little low, he said, but not enough to cause you to faint. You insisted you’d been eating and drinking and he believed you.  
Finally, Raph asked what was on all of your minds. “Could it be something to do with the baby?”  
“That’s certainly the most likely explanation. Y/N’s system is having to support not only her but a second, growing lifeform, there’s bound to be some bumps in the road. I want to do some tests, just to check how everything is, and hopefully that’ll give us some answers”

You tried to follow the tests Donnie did, tried to understand the meanings of all the scans and what he said he was going to look for in the sample of blood he took, but it was all beyond your level of understanding. It was comforting, in a way, having Donnie say all these advanced things you didn’t understand, it meant he was at least fairly competent.  
Luckily, Donnie had at least a vague idea of what the problem might be, not solid enough to share it with you but it was enough to guide what he was looking for. It didn’t take him too long to confirm. Something dinged on his computer, a positive ping as opposed to all the negative ones you’d been hearing as his tests had come up blank. Donnie, who’d been working at a different station, rolled his chair over to look at the screen. There was a moment of silence as he stared intently at the results.  
“Well? What does it say?” Raph finally asked.  
“Give me a moment, will you, this isn’t exactly simple” Donnie snapped. The silence stretched out a moment longer, and then Donnie sat back from the screen. “Ok, I think I know what caused you to faint” he declared, and while his voice wasn’t positive, it wasn’t negative either, he was just tense.  
“And?” you asked, “Is it the baby? Is it ok?”  
“Is Y/N ok?” Raph asked.  
“You’ll both be fine, but it might take a little while. You see, your baby is a mutant, we knew that much, I’ve found traces of mutagen mixed in with Y/N’s blood. The problem is, while the fetus is a mutant, Y/N isn’t, and that makes things a little tricky since her body doesn’t have the resources to support the growth of a mutagen-based lifeform. The process of growing a mutant is very different to that of mutating a fully-grown creature. We need the mutagen in our blood to keep us in this form, whereas your baby needs mutagen just to grow at all. Up until this point it’s been surviving off what it has from Raph’s DNA, but now it needs a little help”  
“Meaning?”  
“Meaning your baby is bleeding you dry in search of something it isn’t going to find”  
“Is there anything you can do?” Raph asked.  
“I should be able to engineer a mutagen medicine of sorts, able to provide the fetus with the resources it needs to continue growing without mutating Y/N. If I can do that, then your system should be able to stabilize and both baby and mother will be fine”   
You breathed a sigh of relief, Raph didn’t. You looked at him. “That’s alright then, we can deal with that” you said. Raph tried to smile at you but the effort was a failure. “Hey, it’s ok, everything’s gonna be fine”  
“Yeah, yeah, it’s gonna be fine” he repeated, then turned to his brother. “How quickly can you get her medicine?”  
“The good thing is, with all my years experimenting with mutagen I’m pretty familiar with how it works. With any small amount of luck, I think I can get something worked out by morning”  
“Great, thanks Donnie. Do you need anything from us?”  
“I’ve got everything I need. You should probable go and get some rest, Y/N”  
You nodded and started to clamber off the bed, thankful for Raph’s hold on you, keeping you upright. “You sure you’re ok to stand?” Raph asked.  
“I can walk, Raph, just don’t let go of me, ok?”  
He nodded. Donnie had already started gathering his equipment but he paused to look back at you for a moment. “Hey guys, I’m sorry about your party”  
“It’s just a party, we’ll have another one” You said.  
“Yeah, and that one’ll be celebrating you getting better” Raph said.


	92. The Sacrifices We Make

You fell asleep as soon as you were settled in bed, Raph sat beside you to make sure you were ok. He promised he’d explain to everyone else what had happened, you just had to rest.  
You woke up a few hours later, and you were alone.  
That was fine, Raph didn’t have to stay by your side every second of every day, but you would have thought that when you were in bed sick because of your and his unborn child might be the time he decided to do so. You felt significantly better for your rest and, in the absence of anyone to tell you not to, you got yourself out of bed, steadying yourself against the headboard for a moment as you stood up too quickly.  
When you emerged in the common room you found Leo, April and Mikey. No Raph. They looked up at the sound of your arrival, but you cut off their concerned inquiries about your health to ask a question of your own.  
“Where’s Raph?”  
They exchanged a glance you didn’t like. “Well? Where is he?”  
“He went out” Leo finally told you.  
“He did what?!”, you weren’t sure if you were furious or about to cry. “Now hardly seems the time to be going for a relaxing stroll.” There was a hand on your shoulder, April trying to steady you, but you shook it off.  
“It’s ok, Casey’s with him, he should be back soon. Maybe you should sit down” she suggested.  
“I’m fine” you snapped back, although sitting did sound like a good idea. “Just tell me where he’s gone”  
“We don’t know, he said he needed to clear his head” Leo tried to calm you, but you knew both him and Raph too well to believe him, you could see he wasn’t telling you everything.  
“No, he didn’t, tell me what really happened”

 

 

“I’m killing her”  
Raph’s voice was more broken than Casey had ever heard it as he sat in an alley, slumped against the wall at the exact point Casey had caught up and begged him to stop.  
“What?”, Casey couldn’t follow Raph’s thoughts, he barely understood what was happening, going off the brief summary Raph had given them all before he’d gone back to sit with Y/N. They hadn’t asked Donnie, Raph said he was making some medicine for Y/N and they shouldn’t waste his time. 3 hours later Raph had emerged, said Y/N was still sleeping and then he’d walked straight out of the lair without another word. That was enough to tell them something wasn’t right, not just with Y/N but with her fiancé.  
“It’s my fault she’s sick, it’s my fault she’s in danger”  
“Raph, what are you talking about?”  
“She’s sick because I’m a mutant, because I put the mutagen inside her, because I put that damn baby inside her”  
Casey was out of his depth. These were real, serious fears and doubts and he didn’t know how to make them better. He sat next to Raph and did his best anyway.  
“You didn’t do anything to her. She’s pregnant, sometimes people get sick when they’re growing another person. It’s not anyone’s fault”  
“People don’t normally get sick because the father of their kid is a mutant and that means their is bleeding them dry. That’s a very specific problem, quite possibly a unique problem. A problem she wouldn’t be having if I wasn’t a mutant, or if-”, Raph seemed to choke, voice cutting off as he found the next part of his sentence hard even to think.  
“If what?”  
“If she wasn’t pregnant. If I hadn’t done that to her”  
Casey didn’t want to be right about what he thought Raph was saying, but he had to ask anyway. “Raph, do you mean…? Are you saying you wish Y/N wasn’t pregnant?”  
The second of pause between Casey’s question and Raph’s answer was almost too hard to bear. There were tears escaping down his face when he spoke again. “I want this kid, Casey, I really do. More than almost anything. But not more than I want Y/N. And if… If… I just wish it didn’t mean she had to suffer like this. It’s just another way she’s worse off with me than she would be with someone human”  
“She doesn’t care about that, you know she doesn’t”  
“But I do! Have you ever looked at the person you love more than anything else in the universe and known that you’re hurting them just by being what you are? It kills me, Casey, and what if it kills her?”  
“It won’t, Donnie can fix this. She’s gonna be ok”  
Raph had no words left to say. He was more broken than Casey had ever seen. Casey’s phone buzzed, a text from April asking him where he and Raph were, saying Y/N was awake. “Raph, if you want to protect her from pain, then why don’t you come home and be with her”  
For the first time in the conversation, Raph looked up from his knees to Casey. “She’s awake?”  
“And asking for you. Don’t make her wait, dude. She needs you”  
Raph would do anything if he thought you needed him. He allowed Casey to drag him to his feet and allowed himself to be taken back to the lair.

 

You hit him like a ton of bricks when he showed up, somewhere between furious that he’d walk out on you at a time like this and relieved he was back. You used all of the strength you had to run to him and wrap your arms around him. You didn’t even pull away when you started having a go at him. “What the hell were you doing?”  
“I’m sorry, Princess. I just… I needed some air”  
“Why don’t I believe that?”  
“I’m sorry” was all he could say. You’d heard Raph apologise for many things in your time, and each time it sounded distinctly different from the last, like apologising was something Raph never quite figured out how to do. But this time was so totally unlike the times before, so quiet and broken and sincere. This wasn’t an apology for disappearing, this was an apology for something else. You swallowed your own rage and fear.  
“There’s nothing to apologise for”  
“But I did this”  
“You did nothing”  
“No, Y/N, you don’t understand, I… I’m the reason you’re sick”  
“What? No, no you’re not. Of course, you’re not. We had no way of knowing this would happen and it absolutely isn’t your fault. And this isn’t a problem really. Donnie’s making me a medicine, I’ll be fine”  
“But if I wasn’t-”, Raph was slipping back into his usual spiral of self-doubt and hatred, but you cut across him.  
“You are perfect, just as you are. I want this. I want this baby, our beautiful mutant baby, and I’m willing to bear this for them”  
You were so engrossed in the conversation that you’d forgotten everyone else was there, and everyone else was so busy pretending not to listen that no one had noticed Splinter was there.  
“Perhaps this conversation would be better suited to a location with fewer prying pairs of ears” Splinter suggested, startling everyone with his presence. He didn’t give anyone a chance to reply. “Come you two, there is something I wish to speak to you about”  
Splinter wasn’t asking you to join him, he was telling you, and there was no refusing. You and Raph followed him to the dojo and, when he gestured for you to sit, you did.  
“What is it, Sensei?” Raph asked.  
Splinter took a moment to form his words. “This cannot be easy for either of you, I am well aware of that. Parenthood is scary enough without extra challenges. But there is some wisdom I gained raising you and your brothers, Raphael, that I feel it is time to pass on. There are many things you will learn when you become a parent: patience, frustration, fear. But the two most important, most prominent lessons you learn are about love and sacrifice. The love you have for your child, or children, is stronger than any love you will ever know. You will redefine yourself around them. And from that first lesson, comes the second. You will make many sacrifices for your child, this illness is just the first. But Y/N willingly accepts this as the two of you will willingly make all the sacrifices that you must. Because that is what you do for your children. This I can tell you from my own experience. What I cannot tell you about is being a parent with the person you love, that chance was robbed from me, but you still have that. Do not waste it”  
When Splinter finished talking, you looked at Raph. “He’s right. I can take anything the world throws at me if you’re there to take it with me”  
“I’ll always be there”  
“So what d’ya say? Wanna make a million sacrifices with me?”  
He smiled. “That sounds pretty good to me”


	93. Sorted

You were tired, far too much had happened, and you were not really up to it. Raph and Splinter knew this and, having talked through what needed saying, Raph helped you up and, with a hand on your arm to keep you steady, he helped you back to your room and into bed. Your eyes were heavy as you lay down.  
“I’m sorry for disappearing like that. I should have been here for you, I wasn’t thinking”  
“It’s ok, I get it. You’re here now” you mumbled, fighting sleep.  
“I am here now, and I’m not going anywhere”  
Raph clambered onto the bed by you, pulling you into his arms with a finger playing with your hair while you fell asleep. He was still there when you woke up, still stroking your hair when your eyes opened.  
“Hey beautiful”  
“Mmmmm” was all the reply you managed.  
“Donnie said he’s finished your medicine, but we thought we’d let you sleep”  
You managed another incoherent mumble.  
“It’s ok, wake up in your own time then we’ll go see him”  
“Mmmmm ok” you managed, extracting one of your arms from the pile of limbs you and Raph were in so that you could rub your face.

You weren’t as bad as you had been earlier, sleeping had really helped, and you managed to make it to the lab without any help. Donnie, who was for once not in the lab but in the kitchen, joined you a moment later.  
“How are you feeling, Y/N?”  
“I’m alright, sleeping helped I think. Raph says you’ve got my stuff”  
“I do indeed”, Donnie picked up a bottle of something that still looked very much like mutagen and handed it to you. There was a sticker on the side that read ‘Y/N’s baby growing serum’, and then a doodle of a baby turtle.  
“Sweet” Raph said. You said nothing but eyed the stuff uncertainly.  
“Are you sure this is safe, Donnie? Cause I’m pretty sure anything that colour shouldn’t be inside a person”  
“It’s perfectly safe, I promise. It’s already inside you, anyway, that’s just adding more”  
“You’re not really selling it to me”  
“I used samples of your and Raph’s DNA to make it, the mutagen is specifically engineered not to effect your cells, only the baby’s”  
You gave it a tentative sniff. “Hmmm”  
“It’s completely and utterly safe. One spoonful a day and in a few months’ time you’ll have a fully formed, fully healthy baby”  
That reminded you why you were doing this. “Alright, I trust you” you said, accepting the spoon Donnie handed you. “But if I mutate when I drink this I’m gonna pound your ass, Donatello”  
“Duly noted”  
You took the stopper out of the bottle and poured a bit onto the spoon. It was a bright bluish-greenish and seemed almost to glow slightly. It really didn’t look like something that should be in your body. You put a hand on your belly.  
“Alight little one, this is for you, but you better be damn cute”  
You pinched your nose, closed your eyes, and swallowed. You then immediately started retching.  
“Dear god, Donnie, that’s disgusting” you managed to splutter out.  
“Just so you know, if you throw it up you will have to take more”  
“I’m pregnant, Donnie, being sick is part of the program!”  
“All I can say is good luck”  
“This better be bloody worth it” you muttered as Raph led you away, rubbing circles on your back to try and keep you from being sick.  
“It will be, babe, I promise”


	94. Our Kid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My final exam for the year is tomorrow, I am not ready, pretty sure I'm ill and I've completely given up. The good news for you is that these circumstances have combined into me editing this instead of revising. So here, have some pointless fluff and please enjoy :-):-)

“Our kid won’t be like that” you remarked as you and Raph stared at the TV, at the child having an ultimate meltdown over the refusal of their request for ice cream for dinner on the daytime TV ‘nightmare kids’ show you were watching.  
“Nah, course not, we’re gonna be better parents than that” he agreed.  
The child on the show went on to throw shoes at its parents while screaming about something else that hadn’t quite gone its way. “Yeah, I’m calling a no on that, too” you said.  
“Don’t worry, our kid’ll at least have some respect for their parents. We’ll just get them into training early to teach them some discipline”  
“But that won’t take up all their time, right? They gotta have time to be a kid”  
“Well of course, there’ll be plenty of time for fun. I’m gonna teach them all my pinball secrets”  
“Um, actually Raph, you may recall that I am significantly better than you at pinball”  
“Then the kid’s gonna be a pinball legend. And doubtless Donnie will make sure they’re a genius”  
“And we’re raising them on Space Heroes”  
“Alright, but when your back’s turned I might have to slip on some Crognard”  
“Fine, but no Super Robo Mecha Force Five”  
“But Y/N!”  
“It’s so bad, Raph”  
“That’s the beauty of it”  
“If you even dare to suggest any of the character’s names for our baby, I’m breaking up with you”  
“But imagine being mother to a kid called Dash Coolstar!”  
You glared at Raph. “I hope you’re joking”  
“You know what, I’m not even sure I am”  
“Ok, I’m cutting that off right now. Our child will not be named after a character from a bad cartoon”  
“Fine, but I will still do everything I can to make sure they grow up to be a certified badass worthy of their own comic book”  
“Well, with you as a father, they can hardly avoid that, now can they” you said, giving Raph a gentle kiss, before turning to your belly. “You hear that, baby? You are to be a respectful, disciplined pinball legend who watches Space Heroes and Crognard the Barbarian while being a total badass”  
“I don’t think that’s too much to ask of you” Raph put in. There was a moment of silence as you stared at your baby bump. Then Raph said what, to be honest, you were both thinking. “Just please, please don’t be like your uncles”  
“God I don’t think I could deal with having another Mikey”  
“Imagine trying to raise Donnie, though”  
“Or any of you. Or all of you”  
There was another moment of silence. “I suddenly have so much more respect for you father, Raph”


	95. Games Night (it's the little things)

Games nights were a semi-regular thing in the lair. Despite complaints every time it was suggested, everyone secretly enjoyed them, particularly after a few drinks. It was Mikey who suggested you play something, as usual, and the usual groans proceeded the request before everyone agreed. Leo excitedly produced the newest addition to the family’s games collection, an old Space Heroes game you’d found at a thrift shop and proudly brought home.  
It took about 20 minutes to figure how to set up and play the game, with everyone taking a turn at reading the instructions. By the time you had a rough idea, Casey had arrived in response to the message posted in the group chat asking if he and April wanted to join the evening and you had to explain it all to him, not easy when you barely understand the rules. Casey had an almost functioning understanding of the game when April showed up and it had to be explained all over again. Finally, after far too long, you were playing.  
The game, like most fandom tie-in games, was pretty bad, but you soldiered on, desperate to enjoy it and taking joy from the ridiculousness. You lost fairly early on, you made a decision that you didn’t fully understand and, after some consultation of the rulebook, Leo regretfully informed you that your ship had blown up, you’d died in a brief flash of fiery pain and you were now out of the game.  
“What? But… But…”  
“I’m sorry, Y/N, but you should have seen this coming when you moved your fleet into that nebula” Leo said, gesturing to the section of the board you’d moved your piece to.  
“Wait, that was a nebula? If I’d known that I wouldn’t have moved there!”  
“It’s clearly a nebula, look at it” Leo shot back, pointing at the colourful swirls like that would help.  
“Actually, a real nebula would-”, Donnie began to explain but never got any further as you cut across him.  
“I don’t care what an actual nebula looks like, I care that no one made it clear to me that I was moving my whole fleet into one!”  
“You’re just a sore loser” Casey said, grabbing the dice from you so he could take his go.  
“Am not, I just don’t like being killed in a fiery ball of spaceship”  
“We’ll just say you escaped death in an escape pod and I picked you up in my ship” Raph said, ever keen to pacify you.  
“But you’re all the way on the other side of the map, there’s no way you’d pick her up before her food rations ran out” April protested.  
“And yet, I’ve done it” Raph said, glaring at April. She held her hands up, knowing when she was beaten.  
“Thanks Raph, I appreciate you breaking the laws of physics to save my life”  
“No problem, just don’t go trying to overthrow me or I’m blasting you out the airlock”   
“Ah true love” you replied.  
You did your best not to take over his game, but you’d been robbed of life so early on! You couldn’t help it if a few ‘suggestions’ slipped through as to how he should play. Not that it mattered, April won, Raph came a disappointing 3rd.  
The others were in the middle of choosing the next game, a debate over Game of Life or some card game only Casey had ever played. You took the chance to go and grab yourself a drink, non-alcoholic of course, and while in the kitchen you got a beer for Raph. You handed it to him with a smile when you came back and he thanked you, pulling open the tab and taking a swig. You took a sip of your soda.  
Raph looked at your drink, then he looked at his own drink, cold and inviting in his hand. He looked back at you, from the drink in your hand to the slight bump of your stomach. He looked back at his drink.  
Raph sighed before handing his can to Leo, who looked mildly confused but accepted the drink as Raph got to his feet and headed towards the kitchen. He returned without a word, orange soda in hand and slumped down beside you. You couldn’t keep the smile away.  
“You didn’t have to, y’know” you said, voice low to keep it from the others.  
“Yeah, I did”  
You didn’t say anything else, allowing Raph this as you leant against his shoulder and watched the others set up the next game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm running out of pregnancy ideas in my planning notebook so if any of you have anything you'd particularly like to see or just something you think would be good please feel free to suggest, otherwise I'm gonna start looking ahead to baby chapters.


	96. Feed Me

When Casey offered to pick up some food on his way over to the lair, he had no idea what he was letting himself in for. Getting food for the family was normally a bizarre enough experience, what with Mikey’s immensely strange tastes and the sheer quantity of food needed to feed everyone. But when you were asked what you wanted to eat it opened a door no one knew existed. 2 mains, 6 sides, 4 deserts and the promise of some of what Raph was getting later and you’d just about covered every craving you’d had that day.  
It sounded like a lot of food, most of which wouldn’t normally be put together, but when Casey staggered in with the food bags and you had it all in front of you it looked even less manageable. However, the occupants of the lair had already learnt not to question you or they would end up with either a furious you or a sobbing one, neither of which could be calmed down by anyone but Raph most days, and so they left you to it as you wolfed down the food like you’d never eaten before.  
Something wasn’t quite right, though, you thought as you surveyed the various containers before you. All the components of what you wanted were certainly there, but you still didn’t feel like you were satisfied. You went to work to make it right, combining two sides in one pot with the sauce of another and then mixing it into one of the mains with a sprinkling of cookies. You sat back and admired your work, taking an enormous mouthful and closing your eyes in bliss. When you opened them, everyone was staring at you. You glared back. They quickly looked back to the film on the TV.  
Raph watched you, both appalled and amazed as you ate more food than he thought could possibly fit in your body. You caught him looking at you, locked eyes with his, and pointedly put down the brownie that was halfway towards your mouth.  
“Look, turtle-boy, you put this baby in me, so now I get to put whatever else in me that I want. Ok?”  
It was quite possible that Raph had never been more afraid of anyone. Ever. He nodded slowly. “That’s fine, Y/N. You absolutely deserve this” he said, a line he’d grown to use a lot.  
Eyes still locked onto his, you picked the brownie back up and slowly raised it to your lips, eating the whole thing without ever breaking eye contact.  
“Damn right I do”


	97. One Of Us

The medicine Donnie had made for you to provide the baby with the mutagen it needed worked, and proved to you just how genius he was. You’d been more than a little uncertain when he’d first asked you to drink it. You’d been reassured it was safe, but it certainly looked a lot like mutagen and, while you had nothing against mutants, becoming one yourself wasn’t what you wanted. But you’d drunk it and stayed the same, and you’d continued to take the decreed dose every day since. It still tasted horrible, but you’d grown used to it.  
It didn’t leave you completely unchanged, however.  
Raph noticed the change first, because who else was likely to stare into your eyes for an extended period of time? He’d been looking at you one day when he’d suddenly stopped what he was saying mid-sentence, putting a hand up to your cheek to keep you still.  
“Wait, Y/N, what’s up with your eyes?”  
“What?”  
“Your eyes, they’re… I swear they haven’t always looked like that”  
“What are you on about?” you asked, clambering off your bed where the two of you had been lying and heading straight for the mirror.  
Now that you knew to look, you wondered how you hadn’t noticed it before. They were the same colour they’d always been, the same complicated mix of shades that muddled together to make one colour, but there was something else present now. Tiny bright flecks, pinpricks, barely noticeable unless you were looking closely. A mix between green and blue, they almost seemed to glow as you shifted your head to change the light falling on your face.  
“What the-? That’s definitely new” you said. In the reflection, you could see Raph getting up off the bed and walking over to you.  
“Yeah, well I don’t trust new. C’mon, let’s go ask Donnie”  
“It’s pretty late, I don’t wanna wake him up”  
Raph snorted. “Like he’ll be asleep, the guy stays up all hours he can. Now come on, I don’t like this”, Raph took your hand and gently tugged you away from the mirror, where you were still staring into your eyes.  
Raph was right, Donnie wasn’t sleeping, but for once he wasn’t at work in his lab, instead he was crashed on the couch with a sleeping Michelangelo, watching TV.  
“Hey, Don, can you have a look at something for us” Raph asked, hand still holding yours.  
“Yeah, sure, is everything ok?”, Donnie hit mute on the TV and looked at the two of you expectantly.  
“We were hoping you could tell us” you said.  
“It’s her eyes. They’re, I dunno, they’re different”  
“There’s all these little bright flecks in them that weren’t there before” you elaborated.  
“Hmmm, that does sound odd”  
Donnie came over to you, glancing quickly into your eyes. “Let’s go to the lab where I can look properly”  
Donnie told you to sit on the edge of the medical bed while he rootled through a draw, pulling out various pieces of tech until he found what he was looking for, a small light for looking at eyes. He had you look at various points in your vision – top left, bottom left, top right, bottom right – and then follow his finger as he moved it around while he looked into your eyes. All the while Raph stood nearby, arms crossed and trying to act unworried. He didn’t have the medical understanding that his brother did and so everything new, every unexpected change scared him and sent wild thoughts and ideas flying around his head.  
Eventually, Donnie pulled away. “I can’t be certain until I’ve run some tests, but it looks like mutagen”  
“And how long until you can be certain?” Raph asked, voice low and verging on dangerous, worry converting into a short temper.  
“All it takes is a scan and a blood test, we’ll know in half an hour, tops”  
Giving Donnie samples of your blood was becoming almost routine for you, you didn’t have to like it though. You liked the beeping thing he held in front of your eyes while your head was held steady even less, having absolutely no idea what it was, despite Donnie’s attempts at explaining, and feeling distinctly uncomfortable with it being so close to your eyes.  
The blood took a little while to process, the scan’s results were almost instantaneous. Within 20 minutes Donnie had all the information he needed.  
“The flecks in her eyes are, as I suspected, mutagen”  
“But she’s not a mutant. At least, she doesn’t look like a mutant” Raph said.  
“I’m not a mutant, Raph. Look at me, I’m not a mutant. Right?”, you turned to Donnie, suddenly unsure of yourself.  
“You’re not a mutant” he confirmed, “the only mutagen in your blood is from the medicine and that’s still targeting only the baby. The flecks in your eyes are just a side effect of the medicine. They’re not dangerous, you’re absolutely fine”  
“Will they go away when I stop taking the medicine?”  
Donnie paused a second, unsure of how you would react to what he was about to say. “I don’t know. The mutagen isn’t going to mutate you, but it is part of you now. The spots may fade over time but it’s possible they’ll be there forever”  
The room was silent, the two boys looking at you as you processed what Donnie had said.  
“Do you have a mirror?” you asked after a moment. Donnie picked one up from the desk and passed it to you. You gazed at yourself, at your eyes, at the tiny flecks of something not-human inside them. The same substance ran through Raph’s blood, would run through your child’s blood. Somehow, it felt good that it was part of you, too. “It’s like I really am one of you, now” you said.  
Raph took the mirror from your hand, turning your face to look at his. He looked at you for a moment. A thumb traced your cheekbone.  
“I think they’re beautiful”


	98. You Freak Out

All Raph got to warn him of the fact you were freaking out was one text. He’d been sparring with Leo and when they took a break he glanced at his phone to see a message from you. All it said was ‘Our room, now. I need you.’  
He excused himself from Leo and was there within a minute. You were sat on the bed but when the door opened you stood up.  
“Where the hell have you been? I sent that like 10 minutes ago!”  
“I was sparring, only just looked at my phone. What’s wrong? What’s happened?”  
“I can’t do this, that’s what’s happened!”  
“Can’t do what? You’re kinda freaking me out, Y/N”  
“This, Raph! I can’t raise a child, I can’t even look after myself!”, your breath was coming far too fast and you were trembling. “We live in a sewer! We can’t raise a kid in a sewer! But I don’t wanna leave this place, I love it here, it’s our home. And they won’t be the same as everyone else. And what are they gonna look like? What if they can’t go out in public like you guys? You said it was so lonely, I don’t want that for them. And what if they get sick? We can’t exactly take them to a doctor, and Donnie’s amazing but he can’t do everything. And I’m not ready to give birth, that’s fucking terrifying to me. And what if something goes wrong? And-”  
“Woah, woah, slow down, breathe”, Raph cut across your outburst and you looked startled, like you’d forgotten he was even there. “It’s ok, baby, just breathe”  
You did as you were told, taking a deep breath.  
“Better?”  
“A bit, thanks. I just… I can’t do this”  
“You already are doing it. It’s all gonna be fine, you’re gonna be amazing, I promise”  
“But Raph”, you looked around, like somehow that would explain it for you.  
“Sit down, sweetie”, he guided you to the edge of the bed and sat with you. “This isn’t supposed to be easy, Y/N, but we’ve got this. We’ve got each other, we’ve got the others, if Splinter can raise 4 boys alone with nothing, I think we can raise one child together with a home and a family”  
“But we live in a sewer, Raph”  
“Actually, we live in an abandoned subway station adjacent to a sewer. Big difference. The others and I grew up here just fine. And besides, we might not always live here. One day we might get somewhere of our own, somewhere in the country, where you can see the stars. We may not have loads of choice, but we have options. This place is just a home, it’s like anywhere else, it’s just underground”  
“But-”  
“Whatever happens, whatever is thrown our way, we’ve got this”  
“Do you actually believe that?”  
“You know that I do”  
“And you’re really not scared?”  
“Are you kidding me? Of course I’m scared, I’m freaking terrified. This is the scariest thing I’ve ever done, and I don’t think that’s ever going to stop. I’ve seen so much bad stuff, I know the kind of stuff that’s out there. I watched the damn world end, for god sakes. I’ll never not be scared for our kid because I know just how easily things could go bad. But that doesn’t mean I don’t wanna do this. I know we’re not ready, no one is ever ready, but I also know that we can do this. You are the strongest, bravest person I know and there is no one else I would ever wanna raise a family with. I’m right here for you and you’re right here for me and we can do this. I know we can”  
You took a breath, and then another, and a third, letting yourself calm down all while your eyes were locked on his.  
He was right. You could do this. You would do this.


	99. Raph Doesn't Freak Out

So you were freaking out, that was fairly obvious. No one could blame you, either, it’s scary becoming a parent, especially in such a unique position. Hey, the others were freaking out a bit and it wasn’t their kid. But there was one person who seemed alarmingly calm when everyone had expected them to be a mess. Raph. Since his panic early on when you’d got sick, Raph had taken every situation that arose like he was born to do it. Maybe he was, maybe he was finally coming into his own after years of trying to find his place.  
“Y’know, I still can’t believe Y/N’s actually pregnant” Leo mused one evening as he flicked through channels on the TV. Raph looked up from his comic.  
“Jeeze Leo, if you can’t deal with that idea you’re in for a surprise in a few months”  
“Doesn’t it freak you out? The idea that you’re gonna be a dad in a few months? I know I’m freaking out about it and I’m not even the father”  
Raph put the comic down, seeing that Leo was pursuing an actual conversation. “It really doesn’t”  
“But… How? I don’t think I can even look after myself properly, let alone raise a baby”  
“Good thing it’s not yours, then”  
“I’m serious, Raph. I don’t know how you, of all people, can be calm about this”  
“Me of all people? And what does that mean?”, Raph was perfectly ready to take insult.  
“It’s just, you’ve always been kinda, well, irresponsible, I guess. You let your emotions rule you. I never thought of you as the fatherly type. But lately, you’re completely different, I just don’t get it”  
“I dunno, it just feels right. I know I’m not ready, but I’m never gonna be ready, no point panicking about it. This is what I want, more than anything else, but I never thought it would actually happen. Now that it has I can’t bring myself to be afraid, I’m just excited. There’s a little person growing and they’re the combination of me and the woman I love, and I just can’t wait to meet them. All my life it’s felt like I’ve been searching for something and nothing I ever did seemed to help. Now it feels like I’ve almost found it, like maybe this is what I’ve always wanted and I just never let myself believe it would happen. I’m as ready as I’m ever gonna be, no point freaking out over the next stage in my life when I know it’s gonna be better than anything that’s been before”  
Leo was… Well Leo was stunned almost into silence. Almost. “Who are you and what have you done to my brother?”  
Raph grinned “Actually I think I’m finally the brother you were supposed to have all along”  
Leo had to concede to this point. Raph did seem so much happier than he’d ever been, so much more at peace with himself. There was still plenty of fight in him but that fight was geared towards protecting his family, protecting the people he loved more than absolutely anything in this world. The anger he’d always struggled with had matured into what it was always trying to be, protectiveness, having been given the outlet he’d always searched for. He couldn’t be angry at a world that had given him all that he had, but he could sure as hell be angry at anyone who threatened that.


	100. Princess

Princess, that’s what he calls you. It always made you feel special, pretty even. You don’t feel pretty now, staring into the mirror dressed only in your underwear, a pile of clothes next to you none of which fit anymore. Raph had promised you a date but you were finding it basically impossible to make yourself feel sexy for him. You weren’t sure how long you’d been staring in the mirror, but when Raph came in asking if you were ready yet you knew it had probably been too long.  
“You ready yet, babe?” he asked as he entered the room. When he saw you he answered his own question. “You’re not even dressed!”  
“Well how am I supposed to get dressed when none of my clothes fit?” you asked, gesturing to the pile next to you. “I can’t feel all sexy for you if all I can fit into is jeans with the button undone and an oversized T-shirt”  
“You’re sexy no matter what you wear, princess” he said, trying to grab your hips but you dodged away.  
“No, don’t call me that”  
“What? Princess?”  
“Yes, look at me, I’m not a princess. Princesses are dainty and elegant with flat tummies and perfect figures. I am not those things. I am fat”  
“You’re not fat, you’re pregnant, and I think it makes you even more beautiful than before”  
You sighed, turning back to your reflection.  
“I’m serious, Y/N, you are beautiful” he said, trying to turn you away from your reflection, but you shrugged him off. He tried a different technique, standing back and looking over your body as if in deep thought for a moment.  
“You’re right, I’ve made a terrible oversight in what I call you. Of course you’re not a princess, I can’t believe I missed it for this long”  
You looked away from your reflection to him, feeling somewhat betrayed. He was supposed to tell you you were wrong, not agree! But Raph wasn’t finished.  
“You’re obviously a queen, a beautiful, gorgeous, badass, womanly queen. The sexiest queen I’ve ever seen”  
You fought it, but a small smile made its way onto your face. “You’re just saying that”  
“Of course I am. I’m just saying it because it’s true”, Raph made a grab for your hips again and this time you let him, allowing yourself to be pulled against him as he kissed more smiles onto your face. “You are the most beautiful woman I know and the sexiest person I can imagine, pregnant or not. I think you look gorgeous like this. Now, I want you to put on the baggiest jeans you have with the button undone, you can even leave the fly down if you want. And you’re gonna match that beautiful start to an outfit with the biggest, most comfortable T-shirt you own, I want it to be so oversized that I could fit in it with you. And Then I’m gonna take you to the park, to that secret bit I’m pretty sure only you and me know about, and we’re gonna eat so much cake and so many pizza rolls. Think you can do that?”  
You were properly smiling now. “Yeah, I think so”  
“Good, now come on, I’m hungry”  
Raph gave your bum a squeeze before he let you go as if to emphasize his point.  
You were dressed pretty quickly and when you emerged into the common room he grinned at you. “Stunning. Now”, he bowed deeply and with a flourish, before straightening up and offering you an arm, “may I escort you, my queen”  
“I would be honored, my knight in shining armour”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is chapter number 100! Who knew this would go so far? Not me, that's for certain, but I'm no where near done.
> 
> When I realised this would be chapter 100 a part of me wanted to make it a special chapter, but I already had this written and I'm damned if I'm going against the plan. But then maybe this is special, in its own way. It's just as worthy of an important spot as all the other chapters. Forgive me if I'm getting a bit emotional but I'm proud of this thing and I think every chapter is special in its own way and every chapter advances something about this little fic I have here. So, basically, what I think I'm trying to say is thank you for being here up to this point and allowing me to indulge myself this far, because I love this fic and I love writing it and shaping this little escape for us all and it makes me so happy to be able to share it with people who seem to love it as much as I do. And, if you'll allow me, I intend on writing out a life we can all imagine is ours for a little while longer.


End file.
